Smith HARDAKER

23 June 1916

HARDACRE – June 13th, killed in action in France, Pte. Smith Hardacre, Duke of Wellington’s Regiment, of Milligan Fields, Crosshills, aged 30 years.

23 June 1916

CROSSH1LLS MAN KILLED AT THE FRONT

On Sunday morning last Mrs. Smith Hardacre, of Milligan Fields, Crosshills, received news that her husband had been killed in the trenches in France. She has not received an official notification, but as the letter was written for one of his friends (Pte. Tom Ellison, of Sutton) who was with him at the time he met his death, there can be no doubt that the sad news is true. The letter is as follows:– “Dear Mrs. Hardacre, – I am very sorry to have to inform you that your husband, Pte. Smith Hardacre, has been killed in action whilst in the trenches, about dinnertime on the 13th instant. I cannot give any details of his death except that he died instantaneously and suffered no pain. You must excuse my writing, but I thought it would be best to inform you as early as possible. Private Tom Lister Ellison brought the news to me and asked me to write to you. In all probability you will get more news from an officer of his company, but in the event of your not doing so I will make enquiries, and if you will just drop a line to me I will try to answer all you want to know. Wishing you all sympathy in your sad and sudden bereavement.

“Yours truly, Company Sergeant F. Stephenson, 10th Battalion, Duke of Wellington’s West Riding Regiment, France.”

Private Hardacre enlisted in the Duke of Wellington’s in January last year, and was for some time stationed at Folkestone, and afterwards at Bramshot Camp, from where they were drafted to France in July last year. He had seen considerable fighting, and was a bomber in the trenches, having been trained at a bombing school in France. At the battle of Loos he went into the German trenches with bombs, and for his work in this engagement he won a medal and bar. He was home on leave about two months ago, but was recalled by a telegram before his time of leave had expired, and was expecting to receive another leave before very long to make up for this.

Private Hardacre was thirty years of age, and leaves a widow and two children.

07 July 1916

CROSSHILLS – PRAISE FOR A FALLEN HERO

Mrs. Smith Hardacre of Milligan Fields, Crosshills, has received an official communication from the military authorities, confirming the news she had already received that her husband (Private Smith Hardacre of the 10th Duke of Wellington’s Regiment) had been killed in Northern France. Pte. Hardacre’s bombing officer, Lieutenant Keith Laverock, has written to Mrs. Hardacre and speaks very highly of his work in the Bombing Battalion, and expresses his sympathy with her in her bereavement. Company Quarter-Master Sergeant Frank Stephenson, a resident of Cowling, has written to Mrs. Hardacre telling how her husband met his death.

He says:– “He was one of the battalion bombers, and along with another bomber he was on guard over a stock of bombs in a dugout. The Germans sent a shell over, what is commonly called by the men as a Rum jar, that is a very big shell, and it went into the dugout, bursting the bombs and blowing up the dugout. A party of men at once cleared away the debris, and when he was wrapped in a blanket he was along with the other men taken and given a decent burial.”

The Army Chaplain, Wilfred L. Henderson, in expressing his sorrow for the loss of a brave soldier, says:– “We all sympathise with you. He was killed by a German shell, and we buried him on the same night in a little cemetery behind the lines. A cross and number will be put over his grave, and the grave and cross reverently cared for. Your feelings must also be mingled with pride. I think I am permitted to tell you that your husband’s grave lies near the village of Noulette in Northern France.”

In addition, Mrs. Hardacre has received a letter from her husband’s Captain as follows:– “Dear Mrs. Hardacre, I have been meaning to write to you for several days to tell you how very much we all miss your husband, and how very sorry for you we are. Your husband was, of course, attached to the battalion bombers. He was one of the most popular men in my company and I have never known a more willing and cheerful worker. A man like your husband does his bit and a good bit over, and I am sure that all who knew him will agree with me in this. I hope it will be some consolation to you to know that he could not have suffered any pain, as death must have been instantaneous.

“Captain J. H. Bull, Commanding D Company, 10th Duke of Wellington’s Regiment”