In Memory of

Private Gilbert Harding

2149
1st/4th Battalion South Lancashire Regiment
Killed in Action 16th June 1915 Age 18

Private Harding lived with his parents at 14, Manchester Row, Vulcan. He joined the South Lancashire Regiment at the outbreak of war, and before that he was employed as an apprentice fitter at the Vulcan Foundry, where, according to the Newton and Earlestown Guardian obituary of 25th June 1915, he took a keen interest in the ambulance work, and he obtained the St. John Ambulance diploma in first-aid work. He was educated at Wargrave Day Schools. For some years, he had been an enthusiastic member of the local Boy Scouts’ Brigade.

The Warrington Guardian of 26th June 1915 says that the news reached his father in a letter from Private Joseph Roberts who “states that his comrade was killed by a shell whilst dressing the wound of another soldier.” The NEG obituary mentions the news reaching his mother in a letter from Private Littler, who was wounded during this fighting, which is known as the First Attack on Bellewaarde.

These letters may not have been followed by official confirmation, since the Warrington Guardian reported on 8th January 1916 that Private Harding “is posted as wounded and missing.” It adds the information that he was drafted to France in February 1915, but then, mysteriously, concludes with “Private Harding is mentioned in Sir J. French’s dispatch of November 30th, for “gallant and distinguished service in the field.”” He was not in France in November 1914, and had been killed by November 1916. Also Bellewaarde was the first major action which the battalion had seen.

Private Harding’s name is on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial at Ieper, Belgium.