Trafford

Born in 1896, possibly under the name of Heron Irdichan ??? during the June
quarter 1896 in the Chorlton R.D. - ref: 8a/719, the son of Zarch & Shushan
Baronian.

1901 Census - 70 Palatine Road, Didsbury, Manchester.   Son - aged: 5 -
born: Bury, Lancashire.   Head of household - Spiiyian Baronian - Married -
aged: 36 - occ: Merchant - born: Turkey (British Subject).   Also - Shusban
Baronian - Wife - aged: 25 - born: Turkey (British Subject).  Plus 2
bothers and 2 domestic servants.

1911 Census - Brae Coltage, Leigh Road, Knutsford, Cheshire.  Son - aged:
15 - Scholar - born: Manchester.  Head of household - Zarch Baronian -
Married - aged: 46 - occ: Merchant - born: Turkey (Naturalised British
Subject since 1893).   Also - Shusban Baronian - Wife - aged: 25 - born:
Turkey (Naturalised British Subject since 1893)..  Plus 5 siblings and 4
domestic servants.

Attended Wadham House School, Arthog Road, Hale and Manchester University.

MIC - confirms his name and number and that he was awarded the BWM & the VM
only.  No other details listed.

From:- http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Cheshire/HaleWadhamHouseSchool.html
BARONIAN Haron J -  Private 33006, 8th Battalion, Cheshire Regiment. Killed
in action in Mesopotamia 11th April 1917. Aged 21. Born West Didsbury,
enlisted Knutsford. Son of Zarch and Shushan Baronian, of Brae Cottage,
Legh Rd., Knutsford, Cheshire. Cadet of Manchester University O.T.C. No
known grave. Commemorated on BASRA MEMORIAL, Iraq. Panel 14 and 62. 

Extract from de Ruvigny's ROLL OF HONOUR 1914-1918, Part 3, page 16:

BARONIAN, HARON, Private, No. 33006, 8th (Service) Battn. The Cheshire
Regt., 2nd s. of Z. S. I. Baronian, of Brae Cottage, Knutsford, co.
Chester, Export Merchant to China, by his wife, Shushan, dau, of C.
Haronian; b. West Didsbury, 14 March, 1896; educ. Bowdon College and
afterwards was a student at Manchester Victoria University, for Chinese,
and Manchester School of Technology; joined the University O.T.C. on the
outbreak of the European War, and, finding he could not obtain a
commission, enlisted in the Cheshire Regt. 10 Dec. 1915; trained at
Birkenhead served with the Expeditionary Force in Mesopotamla from 30 June,
1916; was wounded 1 Feb. 1917, and admitted to hospital at Basra: rejoined
his regiment on recovery, and was killed in action between Dell-Abbas and
Deltawa 11 AprIl following. Buried there.

His intimate friend, Sergt. Arthur King, wrote: “On 10 April we received
the news that the Turks, in large force, were attempting to outflank us. At
dusk the same day, we countered this movement by having a ten-hours’
forced march towards this strong column of Turks. We were dog-tired to
begin with but this march was the last straw. However, we staggered on
somehow, and at dawn breakfast was served. This was the last time I saw
Baron alive. We had breakfast together, and laughed and joked over the
incidents of the march. When the fall-ln was ordered, we had to separate.
Then we marched into the attack, passing our batteries en route. Soon we
got under shell fire, which became terribly hot as we advanced, so the
order was given to extend, advancing in several waves. I got to know
afterwards that I was in the wave immediately behind Haron, about ten yards
between us. The advance continued steadily, in spite of the heavy shelling,
and soon we came under extremely heavy rifle fire. There was a low ridge, a
few feet high, in front of us so a company was rushed up to hold it at all
costs, because it was of tremendous strategic importance. They only just
got there in time, for the Turks were advancing on it in large numbers, and
were only a short distance away. Haron’s wave and mine continued to
advance until we were within 100 yards of the ridge. Here Haron and his
comrades were sent back for ammunition, and we were ordered to lie down.
The ground was hard mud, baked by the strong sun, and was much too hard for
us to dig in, so we had to lie there and wait orders. The Turkish artillery
and rifle fire kept up its intensity, and we had a very warm time indeed.
One bullet tore its way between my equipment and my heart and another took
the edge off one of my pouches, but I was not touched. The sun was
extremely hot, and I remember lying there hour after hour, wondering when
and where I should be hit. There were thousands of locusts creeping over us
and biting our hands and faces, but it was courting death to move. In the
afternoon the rifle fire died down and the shelling was intermittent. As
the wounded came past us, we asked them the usual questions — Who had
been hit, and how many casualties, etc. I was very anxious about Haron, and
wondered how he got on. Then one of the wounded said, ‘Have you seen
Baronian?’ I said, 'No. Has he been hit?’ He said, ‘No, poor chap,
he’s been killed,’ and he pointed to a dead man lying about ten yards
away. At first I couldn’t realize it, I was too dazed, but I rushed
forward and bent down over him. Yes, it was poor Haron, lying just as if he
had gone to sleep His eyes were closed, and there was no sign of his being
hit. Only a tell-tale little bullet hole in his tunic showed where he had
been shot through the stomach.” The Head Master of Bowdon College also
wrote: “He was one of our best, and upheld a very high standard during
his ascendancy as Prefect, captain of games, and hard-working member of the
sixth form. I remember so well how he struggled and tussled with logic
during his last year. He had no liking for the subject, and was yoked to
another boy who had a taste for such matters. He certainly fulfilled my
dictum: 'If you know it is your duty, take a pleasure in it.’ He held, in
a remarkable degree, the warm affection of masters and boys,” and
Professor Parker, of Manchester University: Haron, who came with his
brother Stephen when quite a boy to study Chinese with me for four years or
more, from the very first impressed me by his delicacy in points of
behaviour, and by his loyal attitude towards his elder brother. When he
joined the O.T.C. he was naturally disappointed to find that there were
difficulties in the way of obtaining a commission; but, as the war
progressed and he heard that one of his class-mates with me had been
killed, he announced to me that he had decided to enlist at the first
possible moment. He came to dine at my house when in training at
Birkenhead; cheerful under conditions of life so different from his
comfortable Knutsford home, he was eagerly looking forward to ‘the
front’ somewhere. That was the last I saw of him, though he several times
wrote to me from Mesopotamia, always full of service and duty.” Unm.

His father was a member of the Manchester Reform Club, 81 King Street,
Manchester.