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In the aftermath of the First World War, Memorials were erected in all but a handful of villages in the British Isles. Servicemen from all walks of life had fought and many died during the years from 1914 to 1919. Hardwick with its Anglican Church and Weedon with its Methodist Chapel decided to erect identical memorials for both villages. The names recorded on these memorials say nothing of the men and the following details have been compiled to preserve the memory of those who laid down their lives in the Great War 1914-1918.
Private WILLIAM GEORGE ABBEY served in the 4th Battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment. He died on 30th September 1918, aged 19 from wounds received during the advance from Ypres along the Menin Road to the Battle of Koelenburg Ridge which was taken on the day he died. He was the son of John and Kate Abbey who lived in Stockaway in Weedon. His brother John was one of the leading members of the committee which raised the money for the Memorials. William is buried in the Haringhe (Bandaghem) Military Cemetery near Ypres in Belgium. |
Private LIONEL EDWARD ALLEN was the son of the Rev. F E Allen, Rector of St Mary’s Church Hardwick. Born in Binbrooke in Lincolnshire, he worked as a Clerk at the Bank of England before serving in the 1st/28th Battalion of the London Regiment. (Artists’ Rifles forerunners of the SAS). He died on 2nd January 1918, aged 34. and he is buried at Rocquigny - Equancourt Road British Cemetery at Manancourt near Bapaume in France. |
| Private LEONARD HALSEY served in the 7th Battalion of The Queens. (Royal West Surrey Regiment). The son of Harry and Mary Halsey, he died on 23rd March 1918, aged 30. He was the husband of Vera Halsey of Myncott, Weedon. (now Ming Cottage). He has no known grave and his name is engraved on the Pozieres Memorial near Albert in France. |
CHARLES FREDERIC HOPCRAFT was a Corporal in the 2nd/1st Bucks Battalion of the Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry when he died on the 26th April 1917, aged 19. The son of Frederick and Florence Hopcraft, who kept the Post Office in Hardwick, he is the uncle of Grace White of Hardwick and is buried in the Chapelle British Cemetery, Holnon, south west of St Quentin in France. |
| The son of William and Jane Hughes of Leonard Cottage in Hardwick and serving in the 15th (Hampshire Yeomanry), Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment, Private LEONARD WILLIAM HUGHES died on the 23rd March 1918, aged 24. He is buried at the Grevillers British Cemetery, which is near Bapaume in northern France. The village of Grevillers was occupied by Commonwealth Troops during the previous year and was recaptured from the Germans at the time of Leonard’s death. The New Zealand Memorial now stands in the grounds of the cemetery and was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens. |
Private HERBERT WILLIAM JEFFS served in the 2nd/1st Bucks Battalion of the Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry. He was killed in action on the 22nd August 1917, aged 19. His parents were John and Elizabeth Jeffs, who lived at 9 Providence Place, in High Street Weedon. He has no known grave but his name is recorded on the Tyne Cot Memorial, near Passchendaele in Belgium. |
Charles and Laura Jones were the landlords of the Five Elms Public House in Weedon, during the war years. Two of their sons died in action, Lance Corporal CHARLES JONESserved in the 1st Battalion of the Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry and his brother Private FREDERICK JONES served in the 2nd Battalion of the same regiment. Charles was wounded in 1915 at Festubert and died on 8th April 1916 in the Persian Gulf and is buried in Basra in Iraq. Fred also fought in Mesopotamia where he was wounded twice but died in France and has no known grave. His name is engraved on the Vis-en-Artois Memorial near Arras. Their father was a Colour-Sergeant of the Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry. |
Private HERBERT WILLIAM MING enlisted in the Army in August 1914 after leaving his job as a grocer’s assistant. He served in the 1st Battalion of the Grenadier Guards and died on the 13th March 1915, aged 21. He was the son of Tom and Annie Ming of Providence Place in Weedon. He has no known grave but is named on Le Touret Memorial near the town of Bethune in France. |
| His cousin, Private WILLIAM GEORGE MING was a member of the1st/8th Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. The son of George and Jane Ming of Providence Place in Weedon, he died on the 27th August 1917, aged 42. With no known grave, his name is recorded on Tyne Cot Memorial, near Passchendaele in Belgium. |
| A Hardwick man, Private HERBERT OWEN TODD saw service in the 18th Battalion of The Kings, a Liverpool Regiment. He died on the 20th July 1917 aged 37 and is buried in the Churchyard of St Mary’s Church Hardwick, England. He was the son of William and Sarah Todd of Close Cottage, Hardwick. |
The grandson of Henry and Constance Cazenove of Lilies in Weedon, Second Lieutenant MUSGRAVE CAZENOVE WROUGHTON enlisted in 1913 in the 12th (Prince of Wales’s Royal) Lancers. He died on the 30th October 1914 aged 23, from wounds received during the German attack at Hollebecke Ridge. As a consequence of his part in the action, he was mentioned in dispatches. The son of William Musgrove and Edith Constance Wroughton of Chester Square in London, he is buried in Kemmel Churchyard, south west of Ypres in Belgium. A brass plate can be seen on the north wall of St Mary’s Church in Hardwick. His grandmother in 1870s gave the Old Schoolroom to the village of Weedon as a school and a sanctuary. |
Two men from Weedon died in accidents whilst serving during the Second World War.
| Leading Aircraftman DOUGLAS THOMAS FOULGER, whose sister Barbara is the wife of Laurie Gower, was a Volunteer Reservist. in the Royal Air Force. He died whilst on a training flight on the 7th October 1941 aged 20. The son of William and Evelyn Foulger who lived next to the shop in the High Street in Weedon, he was a scholar at the High Wycombe Technical School and is buried at the Methodist Chapel in Weedon, England. |
Lieutenant ROBERT THOMAS EDWARD JACOBS of the Gloucester Regiment was attached to the 4/5th Battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers at the time of his death on the 10th February 1945 aged 29. The son of William and Mary Jacobs he is buried in Venray War Cemetery in Holland. He stood on a land mine with fatal consequences. His parents lived at the last house on the Aston Abbotts Road where Dick Fincher now lives.
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researched and compiled by Ralph Followell, 2008
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