Captain Harold Fox-Pitt Lubbock, of the Old Hall, Langham, was the fourth son of the first Baron Avebury and his second wife, Alice, and was born in London on 10 June 1888. He was educated at St. Aubyns, Rottingdean, and afterwards at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took his degree as Master of Arts in 1909. George Phillips wrote: "On leaving the University Harold followed the hereditary family profession of banking, and after some years' experience, became a partner in the firm of Coutts and Co., with which his father, the first Lord Avebury, and his brother were so long associated. Always fully alive to the duty which attaches to every patriot of taking part in the defence of his country, he held for several years a commission in the West Kent (Queen's Own) Yeomanry. At the outbreak of war he was at once called up with his regiment and, when despatched to form part of the unfortunate Gallipoli expedition, he accompanied them as adjutant. He took part in all the hardships of that strenuous campaign, from the time he landed at Cape Helles until the evacuation which closed that disastrous chapter in our military history, only redeemed by the heroism and resourcefulness of the officers and men who composed the expedition. He afterwards saw some active service in Egypt and Palestine, and while there was promoted to the rank of captain. In July 1917 he transferred to the Grenadier Guards and on 28 December went out to join the 2nd Battalion in France. He took part in the fine resistance to the great [German] offensive on 21 March in the second Battle of the Somme." Harold was killed instantly by a shell in the front line on the morning of 4 April 1918, south of Arras and was buried near Ficheux in Boisleux-Au-Mont Communal Cemetery, grave 3.A. brother officer wrote: "Wherever he went he introduced the most valuable element. Whatever the conditions he was always alert, quick and keen, and strongly infected others with the same qualities. War was repulsive to him in every way, yet he never showed it, and so the vitality and charm which he radiated was not merely a natural 'joie de vie,' but sprang from a heart of real courage and fortitude." All who knew him testify to his splendid qualities both as a man and an officer. He seems to have been fearless to a fault, and as sound and capable as he was brave. The urbanity and charm which characterised his father, the first Baron Avebury, better known to his own generation as Sir John Lubbock, the eminent scientist and author, were reproduced in his son, who inherited the keen business instincts of his race. He was devoted to hunting and, before coming to Langham, hunted several seasons with the Vale of White Horse Hunt." Harold was married, on 10 June 1914, to Dorothy Charlotte and left two children, John, born 13 May 1915, who became the third Baron Avebury, and Ursula Moyra, born 5 December 1917. He is remembered on Langham's war memorial and also by a monument in woodland near the family home in Farnborough, Kent. His brother Eric, who apparently had no Rutland connections, was killed a year before while serving with 45 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps.

Photograph courtesy Langham Village History Group