1890/91 - 1st July 1916 (age 25)
Private 21416
2nd Bn. West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales's Own)
Thomas Hardy of Durham married Louisa Gotts of Northallerton in 1883 and
they set up home at 27 Raby St, Middlesbrough where their son John was
born four months before the 1891 census. By the census of 1901 circumstances
had changed when John Hardy and his younger brother Sam are found residing
with their maternal Grandmother, Louisa Gotts, at Piper Lane, Thirsk,
while there is no record of their parents. In later years, their mother
is shown as living in Leeds, but it seems likely that Thomas Hardy had
died while the two boys were young. In 1911, John, now aged 20 was living
in Sowerby with his aunt and uncle, Arthur and Mary Harland, while Sam,
a 16 year old NER railway engine cleaner was at Middlesbrough with another
aunt and uncle.
John enlisted with the Princess of Wales West Yorkshire 2nd Bn. and arrived
in France on 9th December 1915. He was killed in action along with almost
20,000 other Commonwealth soldiers on 1st July 1916 on the first day of
the Battle of the Somme. On that day, the 2nd West Yorkshires were in
support of the Devons and Middlesex and in that capacity they went over
the top after the initial attack. They had to advance across a shallow
vale know as "Mash Valley" - so named because an enemy observation balloon
in the shape of a sausage had previously existed above the neighbouring
valley which had been dubbed "Sausage Valley". The men attacked over the
top from a supporting trench known as "Ryecroft Street" and it was estimated
that 250 were lost even before they had reached the front trench. 75%
of the losses were due to machine gun fire able to enfilade the whole
attack from deep emplacements on the La Boiselle side of the valley. 21
officers and 702 other ranks went into action, and at the end of the day,
five officers and 212 other ranks came out. Hundreds of bodies lay out
in no-mans land and could not be recovered until a long time after the
battle. John Hardy was one of the many with no known grave and is commemorated
on the Thiepval Memorial to the missing on pier & panels 2A, 2C & 2D.
Samuel Hardy had enlisted in the Kings Royal Rifle Corps, showing his
next of kin to be his mother Louisa Hardy now living at Leeds. Sam was
wounded with a gunshot wound to the foot only 2 weeks after the death
of John and probably also in the Somme battle. After recovering in England
he returned to the trenches and was wounded for a second time in April
1918 and evacuated to England again, this time with a gunshot wound to
the knee, which was described as severe. Later medical reports show this
to have been a "through and through" injury perforating the bursa. Four
months later, although still suffering from some stiffness to the knee,
he was recorded as category A. During this recovery period, Samuel married
Clara Annie Allison at Middlesbrough in July 1918. He was discharged from
the army as a Corporal in April 1919.
The information on this page was compiled by Steve Billings.
Information about John Hardy on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website
Information about John Hardy on the War Graves Photographic Project website