Horace Sturgess was born on 12th July 1898 in Skeffington, Leicestershire. His father Charles was born in Skeffington and worked as a coachman, his mother Elizabeth was from Leicester.

Horace and three siblings, Marguerite, Charles and Cecil lived in Skeffington until 1906 when the family moved to 15 Church Lane, St Martin’s,  Stamford where a fifth child, Elsie, was born. The family may have moved on elsewhere as there is no trace of them in Stamford during or after WWI.

Horace may have died in Bideford, Devon in 1973.