This article is derived from work I carried out for a private client in 2020, examining the life of Albert Edward Harnott. Albert was killed during the action described, and has no known grave.
Into battle: the battalion during Albert’s service
This battalion of the pre-war regular army went to France in August 1914 under command of the 11th Infantry Brigade of 4th Division. It remained under that command throughout the rest of the war. By the time that Albert Edwar Harnott arrived to join it as part of a reinforcement draft in July 1916 it had gained a great deal of experience but had sustained terrible casualties at the start of the Battle of the Somme. A very small and dwindling cadre of regular officers and men remained but by mid-1916 the battalion contained many war time volunteers, Derby Scheme recruits and early conscripts.
After the attack at the start of the Battle of the Somme on 1 July 1916, the 4th Division was soon withdrawn from the sector and was moved north to French Flanders. All units had received large drafts and needed time to assimilate them and recommence training, and it was at this point that Albert arrived. After a few days at Wormhoudt, by 26 July the battalion had been moved forward across into Belgium to occupy trenches north of Ypres. Mercifully it proved to be a relatively quiet tour of duty in good weather. Half the battalion was kept not far away in the rear at Elverdinghe, where the opportunity was taken for training the new arrivals. On 8 August, D” Company in the trenches had the misfortune to be affected by a release of poison gas. Later in the month the division was repositioned to hold the front line south of Ypres. In what was considered a quiet month, the battalion nonetheless sustained over 100 casualties killed, wounded, gassed or missing. Another 91 were evacuated ill.
On 10 September the battalion was once more on the move, for the division had been ordered to return to the Somme, where the offensive was still underway. By 25 September it had arrived at Corbie, a town well in the rear of the battlefield. The division now began a period of intensive practice for a forthcoming attack. On 7 October, an 8-mile march brought the battalion to a camp at Meaulte, just behind the old British front line of 1 July. After further time for training, on 17 October the battalion moved forward to a reserve position east of Guillemont, on captured and completely devastated ground. Next day, other units of the brigade participated in an attack. The 1st Hampshires provided parties for carrying supplies forward. On 22 October, the battalion received its orders and moved into its allotted position for the attack.
Who was Albert?
Albert was born the son of Robert and Eleanor Harnott. The census of 31 March 1901 shows the family living at Station Road in Horsham, Sussex. Robert had the occupation of railway engine driver. Albert was the youngest of five siblings present and was the only one to have been born in Sussex. By 2 April 1911 the family had relocated to 154 Upper New Street and had been joined by another child, Doris. The census reveals that Eleanor had given birth to a total of fourteen children, of whom only eight had survived to this date. Albert and his elder brother Leonard were employed as apprentice grocers. Robert Harnott passed away in 1913. The family continued to live at 154 Upper New Street until at least 1947.
On 4 April 1916, Albert Edward Harnott was mobilised. The date is derived from the few surviving service records of men numbered around him, for he became Private 23233 of the Hampshire Regiment.
I am unable to be completely sure of the method of his recruitment, but the few examples found had all attested much earlier during the short-lived existence of the “Group System” of recruiting. Under this arrangement they elected to defer the start of his service. I cannot, though, discount the alternative possibility that Albert was conscripted under the terms of the 1916 Military Service Act which replaced the “Group System” in March 1916.
Albert was sent to the his regiment’s depot at Winchester where he received his uniform and equipment. He was then posted to its 3rd (Reserve) Battalion to begin his 14 weeks of basic and infantry training. It was located at Gosport.
On 1 July 1916, Albert landed in France as part of a large reinforcement draft that had been pencilled in for the regiment’s 1st Battalion. Drafts for this unit would normally go via Southampton and Le Havre and then proceed to Number 4 Infantry Base Depot at Rouen. The exact date on which it joined the battalion is not clear but it was within the next two weeks: during 1-4 July the battalion suffered the loss of 579 officers and men killed, wounded or missing at the start of the Battle of the Somme. It received several drafts to bring it back up towards full establishment. Sadly, none of the records offer any indication of Albert’s company and platoon within the battalion: these details rarely appear in a man’s service record.
Lesboeufs, 23 October 1916
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Albert’s death
The various documentary records agree that it was on 23 October 1916 that Albert lost his life, but it is an assumed date.
It is of significance that Albert was officially declared as missing in action, for it implies that none of his battalion comrades who survived the action could credibly confirm that they had seen him dead. His status became public knowledge with the publication of the official list on 9 December 1916.
It was the usual practice for the War Office to inform the next of kin soon after a man was named as missing. This began a period of terrible uncertainty for them. Official enquiries were made, with communication being made via the Red Cross for any information from Germany that could confirm whether the man was a prisoner or could be confirmed dead. As it approached six months since his disappearance, the War Office would contact the next of kin to enquire whether they had received any form of information. If that was negative, an official assumption of death was made.
Albert is commemorated at the vast memorial at Thiepval, which implies that he has no known grave. It is possible that no burial ever took place in the circumstances of the battle; alternatively he may have been given some form of burial on the battlefield and the grave destroyed by shellfire that continued to fall on this area in 1916 and again, twice, in 1918.
It is however not impossible that he lies in a military cemetery, but is still unidentified. If so his grave will be marked as “A British soldier – known unto God”.Commonwealth War Graves Commission records reveal where the dead of 23 October 1916 are buried. There are, in total, 83 officers and men of the battalion. Of these, 76 are commemorated at Thiepval and just 7 have a known, named grave. It is instructive to examine where the graves are.
The burials
One man, Pte 23309 R. Witt, is in a cemetery that suggests he had been evacuated from the battlefield and succumbed to his wounds at a dressing station.
The six others were all located during post-war clearance of the battlefields: three were buried at Thiepval Anglo-French Cemetery and three at Guards Cemetery at Lesboeufs, which is nearer to where they died. It is certainly not impossible that other men of the battalion also lie those cemeteries but could not be identified as such.
Albert Edward Harnott is also named on the town war memorial in Horsham.