| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
Private John Hardcastle of the 10th Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry was killed in action on 14 May 1917 in the Battle of Arras, France. On 26 May the Beverley Guardian published a letter to his parents in Eske from his company officer, “He was a splendid little fellow, always willing, and one of my best gunners. His loss will be greatly felt in his company. He was instantaneously killed by a shell which burst near him, and he is buried in a British Military Cemetery, in a grave properly marked.”
He is buried in the Wancourt British Cemetery, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France. He was awarded the War and Victory Medals.
John joined the army on 20 Jun 1916 and after a relatively short training period he arrived in France on 14 Oct 1916 and took part in the later stages of the Battle of the Somme. The 10th Battalion was also involved in the first day of the Battle of Arras on 10 Apr 1917 when it advanced 4000 yards through the German’s Hindenburg Line Trench System. The Battalion was later involved in fighting in the Guemappes and Wancourt area, SE of Arras. John was probably killed in the latter stages of an unsuccessful action against heavily defended German trenches near Bullecourt.
John was born the 11 Feb 1897 in North Newbald and baptised at the local church on 14 March. He was the eldest son of George and Agnes Hardcastle. John attended the Huggate and Londesborough primary schools. He was employed as a farm servant/labourer, in 1911 he was at the Turner Farm, Sancton and from 1913-16 he worked on the Greathead Farm, Cherry Burton. He was unmarried.
John is remembered today on the Tickton War Memorial and on the East Riding Memorial in Beverley Minster
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |