Biography:
Harold Osborne Powell was born 20 August 1888, the only son of Hubert John Powell of Lewes and Mabel Powell, daughter of Charles Trower, a barrister.
He came to Winchester from Horris Hill in the spring of 1902 and was in E House, Morshead's, under Frederick Morshead. He was captain of Commoner VI in his last year and a Commoner Prefect.
Powell left Winchester in December 1906 and studied land agency. He also visited Germany to learn forestry. He was elected a fellow of the Surveyor's Institute, and in 1912 entered his father's office at Lewes.
Powell served before the war with the Sussex Yeomanry and the Inns of Court OTC and in August 1914 he received a commission in the 4th Dragoon Guards. He went to the front in October 1914 and fell on the 31 October during the First Battle of Ypres. His commanding officer described what happened to him: 'He was fighting in the town of Messines, guarding a barricade at very close quarters with the enemy. I sent him with a message to the Queen’s Bays on my left, and while carrying the message he was shot by a sniper'.
He was originally buried in a cottage garden in Messines but his body was never recovered. Powell is commemorated on Panels 3 - 5 of the Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres.
Two fellow Wykehamists died with the cavalry at Messines that same day: Lieutenant Lionel Hope Hawkins (I 1900-1903, 6th Dragoon Guards), and Lieutenant Philip Francis Payne-Gallwey (F 1906-1911, 9th Lancers) – like Powell, the latter was killed on his first day in action. A fourth Wykehamist, 2nd Lieutenant James Grant Brandon Thomas (College 1907-1912, 2nd Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers) died later of wounds received at Messines on the same day.