Horace was born in Writtle in 1882 the son of Herbert, a grocer and baker, and his wife Louisa. Herbert George Upson a grocer, as was his father before him, married Louisa Marion Wlkinson on 13th July 1880 at St Peter’s Church, Walworth. The family moved to Woodham Ferrers by 1888 and by 1911 they were living very close to the Bell Inn in Woodham Ferrers. At this stage Horace was still living with his parents and employed as a carpenter but the following year on 24th February 1912 he married 20 year old Eliza Hyde who in 1911 was living with the Upson family, at St Mary’s Church, Woodham Ferrers.
Eliza and Horace had a son Frederick Horace born on 8th April 1914 and who was baptised at St Mary’s on 31st May.
Horace originally enlisted at Chelmsford and was posted to the 28th Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment which was a reserve battalion and which was converted to two training reserve battalions in 1916. Horace was subsequently transferred to the 6th Battalion The Buffs (East Kent) Regiment a service battalion raised as part of Kitchener’s first volunteer army in 1914. Horace was not awarded the 14 or 15 Star which indicates that he did not serve in France until at least 1916 which would tie in with the change of 28/Middlesex Regiment.
The battalion, part of the 37th Brigade, 12th (Eastern) Division, was in action on the third day of the infamous Battle of the Somme on 3rd July 1916 and suffered heavy losses and Horace may well have been posted to them at this stage. 1917 saw the battalion in action in the Arras theatre in the 1st Battle of the Scarpe 9th -14th April, the Battle of Arleux 28th - 29th April and the 3rd Battle of the Scarpe 3rd - 4th May. At the time of his death the battalion was not involved in any formal battle but they were in the front line. The battalion war diary reads
‘On the 9th July 1917 the Battalion relieved E. Surrey Regiment in the trenches orders were givn to attack the enemy’s position at 7.30am on the 11th July. On the 11th the enemy attacked our position in LONG TRENCH at 5am after a heavy bombardment of all calibres. Smoke and liquid fire was used. A counter –attack was launched about 212hrs afterwards - failed. Consolidation of position carried on – working parties supplied Support Battalion. Enemy aeroplanes flew low over our lines all day, especially during the attack and met very little opposition. Casualties total 63 to 12 noon.’
He is remembered on the Arras memorial Faubourg-d’Amiens Cemetery, Arras, Pas de Calais which honours 35,000 allied soldiers for whom there are no known graves. He was subsequently awarded the Victory and British War medals. His widow received his back pay of £4.1s and in November 1919, more than two years after his death, a magnificent gratuity of £4.
Eliza eventually married Charles Dowling in 1954 and died in 1971. Their only child Frederick married and lived the rest of his life at Ipswood, Main Road, Woodham Ferrers where he was still living when he died in 1992
Woodham Ferrers war memorial has two other Upsons who served and returned, F J Upson Horace’s older brother Frederick James Upson who served with The Labour Corps although his service record suggests that he may have originally served with the London Regiment and been transferred due to ill health. The H Upson is likely to be Horace’s much younger brother Hedley Victor Upson.