Arthur Hardy (1889-1955)
one of the luckiest men to not die in WW1
Arthur Hardy was born on January 8th 1889 to John Piercy Hardy and Martha (nee Davey). He was born and spent much of his early life in Bromley St Leonard. August 1914 would see the outbreak of WW1 and in 1916 the British Government would mobilise many men through the Military Service Acts 1916.
One of those men would be Arthur. He and his wife Winifred were living at 11 Jefferson Street, Bromley St Leonard and like many young wives at that time Winifred would see her husband called to the front amidst huge casualties. Arthur had worked as a ‘cask packer’ (cooper) at a local factory and then a storekeeper.
Arthur Hardy enlisted in the 2/6th South Staffordshire Regiment on September 14th 1916 at the Central London Recruiting Depot Whitehall, aged 27. He stood 5ft 7in high, weighed 9½ stone and provided details of his wife Winifred and two daughters; Edith and Gladys. He described his occupation as ‘storekeeper’ and now he was Private Arthur Hardy, regimental number 242268
From his enlistment to the 24th of February 1917 Arthur was in England undergoing training, ending up at Fovant Hampshire awaiting deployment to France. On the 25th of Feb 1917, along with many others, he would set sail for France from Southampton, arriving at LeHavre The 2/6th South Staffordshire regiment would fight at the front and it is believed that Arthur’s unit would be part of the 176th (2/1st Staffordshire) Brigade of 59th (Second North Midland) Division.
Together with the rest of the 59th (2nd North Midland) Division the brigade fought in the trenches of the Western Front. The brigade fought in the Third Battle of Ypres, (Battle of Passchendaele – July to November 1917), in which Arthur was wounded on the 26th of September 1917. He is shot through his neck and on the 10th of October 1917 he is admitted to a military hospital at St Omer, France. After treatment he is once again moved to the front and by the 7th of January 1918 he is once again with his unit.
The brigade, with the rest of the division, was devastated in Operation Michael, the opening phase of the Spring Offensive launched by the German Army, in March 1918 and had to be completely reformed, with the original battalions being reduced to cadres and transferred to other divisions and replaced by Provisional Garrison Guard battalions from the United Kingdom. It is in this period that Arthur’s misfortunes will continue as he is captured by German soldiers and declared ‘missing’ on March 31st 1918. This must have been a very worrying three days for his wife Winifred at home with two children, because on the 29th he is posted as alive and a Prisoner of War. It will be many months after going missing and almost a month after the end of hostilities on November 11th 1918, that on December 3rd Arthur is repatriated from being a Prisoner of War and by March 13th 1919 he is back in England and his military experience will come to an end.