Horace was born in 1899 in Holwell. His family moved periodically and by 1910 his father, John, was foreman on a farm in Ingoldsby, Lincolnshire. Horace joined the Lincolnshire Regiment in Grantham.

42982 Private Horace Edward Steele was killed in action on 5th September 1918 and is buried in Lebucquiere Communal Cemetery Extension, near Bapaume in France.