Claude Usborne was born September 30, 1872, to John and Jessie Usborne.
John, Jessie, and sons Gordon, Claude and Curzon moved to Honolulu from Toronto in Dec 1896. In 1897, Usborne raised funds to build St. Clement church, which opened in 1898.
Jessie was a sculptor, which might be where her son, Gordon, learned his craft.
On September 25, 1916, aboard the ship Grampian, Claude Usborne arrived in Liverpool, England, on his way to fight in the Great War as part of the British Forces.
On April 14, 1917, while in command of a patrol boat in the Mediterranean, Claude was seriously injured. He died on May 2, 1917, in Taranto, Italy, where he is buried. A S.Lt. in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserves, he was awarded a Victory Medal, (British War Medal) for his service.
He left behind a wife, Marjorie Cawdry Usborne, and sons John, Thomas and Peter Usborne of Canada.
In 1917, Claude’s father, John, resigned his position as rector of St. Clement and retired to his home he called “Restarick” on the foot of Diamond Head.
Gordon, Claude’s brother, went on to be a professional sculptor whose well-known work includes the statue of President McKinley at McKinley High School in Honolulu.
Gordon also served on the Territorial War Memorial Commission as the representative from the Hawaiian Academy of Art and Design. This is the committee that conceptualized and led the movement to build the Waikiki War Memorial Natatorium.
Claude is one of only 101 listed on the plaque outside the War Memorial Natatorium for giving his life in the Great War.
Source:
Hawaiian Gazette, May 4, 1917, Page 8
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