GEORGE HARDY

 Photograph courtesy of Mrs. D. Welton

Born: New Year’s Eve, 1890, Ipswich.

Baptised: 7^th September 1899, with sister Edith Hardy, born 6^th April 1889 and Georgina Hardy, born 4^th November 1895, and brother Frederick Hardy, born 2^nd February 1893 – family home at 41, Hervey Street, Ipswich.

Died: 25th July 1918; age 27; KiA.

Residence: 71, Hervey Street, Ipswich.

Occupation: a Postman.

Enlistment Location: Ipswich.

Rank: Lance Corporal; Service Number: 372620

Regiment: London Regiment ( Post Office Rifles) ‘A’ Coy. 2nd/8th Battalion.

Medals Awarded: Victory & British War.

Memorial Reference:

Panel 87,

Pozieres Memorial,

Somme,

France.

Relatives Notified and Address: Alfred & Georgina Hardy, of 71, Hervey Street, Ipswich.

CENSUS

1891   3, Burn’s Cottage, Woodbridge Road, Ipswich.

George was 3 months old and living with his parents & siblings.

Alfred Hardy, 36, a Police Constable; born London, Middlesex.

Georgina Hardy (nee Cork), 37; born Sutton, Norfolk.

Alfred William Hardy, 3, born Ipswich.

Edith Hardy, 2, born Ipswich.

1901   41, Hervey Street, Ipswich.

George was 10 years old and living with his parents & siblings.

Alfred, 46, a Police Constable.

Georgina, 47.

Alfred, 13.

Edith, 11.

Frederick Hardy, 8, born Ipswich.

Georgina Hardy, 5, born Ipswich.

1911   71, Hervey Street, Ipswich.

George was 20 years old, and a Postman. He was living with his parents & siblings.

Alfred, 56, a Police Constable.

Georgina, 58.

Edith, 21, Helps at Home.

Frederick, 18, a Barman at a Brewery.

Georgina, 15, a Shop Assistant at a Confectioners.

Probate to Alfred Hardy – father, a retired police constable.

Soldiers’ Effects to Alfred Hardy – father.

George is also remembered on the war memorial at St. Margaret’s Church, Ipswich and on the war memorial at the Royal Mail Centre, Commercial Road, Ipswich.

In the Spring of 1916, George’s parents received the devastating news that their youngest son, Fred Hardy, had died from wounds.

E.A.D.T. – Friday, 31^st March 1916 – Mr. Alfred Hardy, of 71, Hervey Street, Ipswich, has received a sympathetic letter from a Church of England chaplain, informing him that his son, Lance Corporal Frederick Hardy, 200536, of the Suffolk Regiment, has been seriously wounded in the head, and lies in a very critical condition.

 Evening Star – Saturday, 1^st April 1916 – WHILST ON SERVICE – HARDY – On the 26^th March, died of wounds received in action, Lance Corporal Frederick Hardy (Fred), of the Suffolk Regiment, died dearly loved and youngest son of Alfred and Georgina Hardy, of 71, Hervey Street, Ipswich, aged 23 years.

Frederick Hardy had not died. He returned to England, where he was discharged and awarded the Victory, British War and 1914 Star issued the Silver War Badge. In 1921, he was out of work as a disabled ex-soldier; he lived back at Hervey Street with his parents and sisters. On the England and Wales Register 1939, Frederick, a disabled ex-soldier, was living with his two sisters at their family home, 71, Hervey Street. Frederick died a few years after his sisters in 1973, in Ipswich.

Possible image of Hardy from post office memorial

 London Regiment ( Post Office Rifles) ‘A’ Coy. 2nd/8th Battalion: