Horace was born in Derby in 1890. He was the son of John Eaton and Louisa Cox who had married on 18th April 1880. The couple started married life living with her parents at 28 Bloom Street in Derby. The 1891 census shows the couple living at Uttoxeter Old road, Werburgh, Derby. They had three children living with them, including Horace. John was working as a National Telephone Foreman.
By 1901 the family had moved to Leicester. They lived at no. 14 Shelley Street and as well as their five children, they also had a boarder, Fred Garrett. On the 16th October 1907 the Leicester Daily Post reported that Horace, then aged 17, together with seven others aged between 15 and 18, had appeared in court on the charge of brawling in the street. They pleaded not guilty to brawling in Knighton Fields Road East on the 6th October. The brawl had been witnessed by the police and the defendants were ordered to pay 2s 6d each towards the costs. One of the defendants was Sydney Holmes aged 17, who lived on Knighton Fields Road East, also died in the war and is included on the St Michael’s War & All Angels Memorial.
Horace appeared as missing on the Casualty List by the War Office on 2/6/1915, however, he had died on 8/5/1915. As well as the St Michael’s memorial, he is also remembered on the Menin Gate at Ypes in Belgium, which is one of four memorials to the missing in Belgian Flanders. It was decided to divide the names of the missing between several different sites as nearly 200,000 Commonwealth service men had been killed.
