Month: November 2016

ß ⚜ Щ Gnr R.F.A. (DC 7/9/1918; ’Home on leave’). (DT 22/2/1919 p8; ‘was wounded and was only demobbed a day or two ago’). On Scouts Memorial Board as A Fletcher R.F.A., (he may have been confused with his brother?)  b 1893 at Froggatt, eldest son of William and Sarah Edith Fletcher. 1911C, The Dale, Hathersage, brother of Arthur Ward Fletcher, Fred Fletcher and Harold Dalton Fletcher.

✟ ß ⚜ ă Щ Harold Dalton Fletcher’s military record is badly damaged, (Mostly too faint to make out properly). He enlisted at the Sheffield depot of Y & L 20/11/1915, a platelayer, single, age 20 yrs 1 month, (i.e., b Oct 1895), before being assigned to The Sherwood Foresters (N & D) but approval not given until 11/2/1916; 35058 6 Sherwood Foresters. 20/9/1916, transferred from 1/6 N & D Regt into 40908 Manchester Regt. He was badly wounded 11/10/1916. (DC 21/10/1916 & DC 28/10/1916; ‘Wounded in action’).  (DC 7/4/1917 ‘Home on ten days leave after being shot through the leg some time ago. Until recently he was in Leeds Northern Clearing Hospital’). This leave was 28/3/1917 – 6/4/1917 to Brook Cottages, The Dale, Hathersage. 15/9/1917 transferred to 171 Labour Corps, and later transferred to 398607 Labour Corps Field Service. His army record refers to his death from Influenza 7/2/1919, and buried at Belgrade Cemetery, Namur, Belgium. (DT 22/2/1919 p8 shows a picture and reports; ’death in hospital in France 16th Manchester Regt age 23, has been in the Army 3 years and France 2 years. He was in the Church Choir, a cricketer and footballer’). His mother signed the receipt for his medals. A Parcel of his personal effects was sent on 1/7/1920 from the Labour Corps and a Scroll of Honour sent to his father (undated). Edna age 20 listed as full blood sister on his Army records. (She would be Edna Muriel b1900 Hathersage). His name appears as ‘Harold’ on the Hathersage War Memorial, and as ‘H Fletcher’ on the Scouts Memorial Board.

b 1895 Grindleford Bridge, third son of William and Sarah Edith Fletcher, brother of Fred Fletcher, of The Crofts, (although the present ‘Crofts’ were not built then), and of Arthur Ward Fletcher & William Fletcher.  He is shown as living at 8 Council Houses, The Dale in 1959.

Incorrectly listed as Harold Dalton Fletcher in previous publications. Joseph Harold Fletcher was 40078 Pte 10 Bn Y & L Regt. who died 13/10/1917 aged 33, he enlisted in Leeds and his father was Joseph.  He is nothing to do with Harold Dalton below, and has no Hathersage connections that can be determined.

✟ ≠ 11760. 7 Bn East Yorkshire Regt. K.I.A. 27/9/1915. Buried in Bedford House Cemetery West, Vlaanderen, Belgium. b 1891 Hathersage, (but 1891C & 1901C both show him b  Gorton, Manchester) to parents Marshall and Helen (Ellen) Fletcher (b 1860 Hathersage).  1901C living at Main Road, Hathersage with his brother Marshall b 1890 Gorton, and sister Minnie H b 1884 in USA.  1911C in Sheffield. 1915 parents living at 162 Woodbourn Road, Attercliffe.

ß Щ R 17842 Pte Lincolnshire Regt, transferred to 42458 Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire Regt. Wounded (DC 21 July 1917). (DT 22/2/1919 p8 ‘Dvr Arthur RFA, was gassed, paralyzed down one side and lost an eye’). Brothers; William, Fred & Harold Dalton Fletcher.

b 1894 Calver, third son of William and Sarah Edith Fletcher. 1911C living at The Dale, Hathersage.

2/Lt Monmouthshire Regt. Lt RTE/RTO. (Railway Transport Establishment/Railway Transport Officer (later Railway Traffic Officer).  b1889 Wrexham, 1901C at Oak View Boarding School, Hathersage.

✟ ß Щ 42542 2 Bn West Yorkshire Regt (Prince of Wales Own). Killed 16/8/1917 age 19. Memorial Tyne-Cot, Passchendale, Belgium. Panel 42-47.

b 1898 Ecclessfield,  An employee of Midland Railway at Masborough. Son of the late John Fearn, file grinder, (native of Wadsley Bridge, Sheffield) and Georgina Moore, b 1860, Sheffield.  Brother of FEARN, Herbert Stanley. Following the death of their father in 1905 Percy was taken in by a Charity School (1911 Census shows him as a boarder in Sheffield Charity School for Boys, East Parade, one of 85 pupils). He may have come to Hathersage after that for a short while, hence his membership of the Bible Class (who also had their own football team) before joining the Army, for he is recorded as living at Primrose Cottage and Roslyn Crescent.  His two sisters Violet Rebecca and Jane Winifred lived with their Aunt Annie Moore in Station Road, Hathersage (1911 census). Mother Georgina died at Sheffield in 1936.

✟ Щ (Known sometimes as ‘Harry’ but for some reason he had previously been referred to as ‘Henry’).  Formerly 9079 Y & L Regt, 5580 Pte E Coy 1 Bn Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders (Princess Louise’s). He was in India in 1911 where he served 5 years (listed as ‘Fearne’). He died at No 13 General Hospital, Boulogne on 24/5/1915 of wounds received at Ypres on 8 May, age 25. Grave; Boulogne Eastern Cemetery, ref Viii.D.43. (D.C. 5/6/1915; ‘Herbert Stanley Fearn of Primrose Cottage, (see photo p 5 ‘Hathersage Images of the Past’), Station Road, Hathersage, has succumbed to wounds received in active service. Mrs Georgina Fearn, on hearing the news that her son had been wounded, immediately left Hathersage for the hospital at Boulogne and remained with her son until his death. He was quite conscious up to the last. He was buried in the cemetery adjacent to the hospital, and his mother was present at the interment.’)

b 1890 in Ecclesfield,  1901C age 11 living at Parsons Cross Road, Wadsley Bridge, and 1911C at Roslyn Crescent, Hathersage. Son of the late John Fearn, file grinder, (native of Wadsley Bridge, Sheffield) and Georgina Moore, b 1860, Sheffield. Brother of FEARN, Percy Theodore. Following the death of their father in 1905 Herbert joined the Army, his two sisters Violet Rebecca and Jane Winifred lived with their Aunt Annie Moore, spinster b 1857, at Station Road, Hathersage (1911C). Mother Georgina died at Sheffield in 1936.

b 1865 Wiesbaden Germany (naturalised British) his father was Scottish and mother a Bavarian baroness, and he spent part of his childhood in Austria.  He was an engineer, who in 1912 was living at Nether Hall, Hathersage, and later at Bakewell. He was a director of Davy Brothers, Sheffield, and Managing Director of Thomas Firth Ltd., Sheffield after the war, was an inventor and triple patentee between 1903-1920 of pyrometers and taps for armour plate. In his business, he travelled the world. Although not a serving member of our forces, according to the book “Six: The Real James Bonds“  by Michael Smith, he carried out spying operations for the Admiralty.

He warned the Admiralty of the German development of their armour piercing shells which resulted in the destruction of HMS Indefatigable in the Battle of Jutland. His wife FAIRHOLME, Marie Antoinette Marthe. was Commandant of Hathersage VAD Hospital, and his sister; FAIRHOLME, Mary Harriett Amelia Clara, was Assistant Commandant and Quartermaster. He died 24/12/1950 in Beaconsfield.

✟ ≠ Pte 14153 9th London Regt, Royal Fusiliers. K.I.A. 3/7/1916 and remembered on Thiepval Memorial, Somme. b 2/8/1899 West Ham, and lived in East Ham. He was not yet 17 when he was killed, and not 20 as his Army record stated, before being corrected, which means he lied about his age on enlistment when living at Plaistow, West Ham. 1911C living in West Ham. Records are confusing. His father was William b1860 Reigate, and mother was Sarah Jane Standrien/Standing, b 1865 Hathersage (she is not on 1871C but on 1881C is in London). To add to the confusion, not only does the name vary; Standrine, Standrien, Standing, but also her place of birth; Derby, Bakewell, Hathersage.  However, the baptism records state Hathersage in 1865. Her sisters Grace b16/6/1863 and  Emily b6/2/1867 were also born at Hathersage. Their mother was Mary Ann Hodgkinson, a Hathersage girl who married Samuel Standrin at Hathersage in 1862.