Harold Coomber

Bank: London County & Westminster Bank

Place of work: London Temple Bar branch

Died: 5 April 1915

Harold Edwin Coomber was born on 21 August 1883, the son of Richard William Coomber and his wife Frances Emma.

In October 1903, when he was 20 years old, Coomber left his post at Mercantile Marine Co and went to work for London & Westminster Bank. He was initially appointed a teller at the bank's London Westminster branch, before being appointed a teller at London City office in December 1903. In May 1904 he transferred to the bank's London Bloomsbury branch. In 1909 London & Westminster Bank merged with London & County Bank, and Coomber became an employee of the enlarged London County & Westminster Bank. In April 1910 Coomber transferred to London Temple Bar branch. Coomber was a keen sportsman, and played for the bank's staff football, rugby and cricket teams.

Coomber was a territorial soldier, and in 1914 left the bank to go on active service as a Private in the Honourable Artillery Company. He served on the Western Front, and was shot and killed in Belgium on 5 April 1915, while adjusting telephone wires in his trench. He was 31 years old.

Harold Coomber is commemorated on a bank war memorial at NatWest London Fleet Street branch.