George Hartley
1901 - assistant to a fish and game dealer (probably his brother-in-law, William Rbt Kirton)
1911 - labourer at the India Rubber Works, Retford
- Family History
- Military history
- Extra information
- Photographs
George Hartley was the second son of William and Ann Hartley (née Lane).
His father William was born in Treswell in 1852 and Ann in Retford in 1850, the daughter of William Lane. William and Ann were married at Retford St Swithun in April 1873 and a report of their marriage in a local paper gave her residence county as 'Alabama, USA.'
The couple had nine children, one of whom died in early adulthood. All the children were born in East Retford: Charlotte (1873), Ann (1875), John (1876), Ada (1878 d. 1893), Elizabeth (1880), Alice (reg 1882 JFM), Sarah Jane (1884), George (1886 reg AMJ) and Mabel (1888). All the children were baptised at St Swithun's, George on 30 December 1889.
According to the baptismal records, William and Ann were living at West Field, Ordsall, East Retford, between 1873 and early 1884, then on Beardsall's Row at the time of George's baptism in 1886 and his sister Mabel's in December 1889.
However, on the 1881 Census William, a railway labourer, his wife and their five children, Charlotte, Ann, John, Ada and Elizabeth, were living on South Terrace, Ordsall. By 1891, though, the family was living at 30 Grove Street, East Retford: William, a general labourer, Ann and six of their children John a farm labourer, Ada, Alice, Sarah, George and Mabel. The two older sisters, Charlotte and Annie, were both tailoresses and recorded as boarders in the household of Henry and Emily Grant at Elgin Place, Newark. Elizabeth, the fifth child, has not yet been traced on the 1891 Census.
Their daughter Ada died two years later in 1893 aged 15.
Their eldest son John served with the Derbyshire Regiment between 1894 and 1897 and after his discharge from the Army married Alice Ann Stimson in 1899. In 1901 they were living at 1 Wellington Street, Retford, with Alice's son, Alec Stimson (b. 1898) and their daughter Ada (b. 1900). The couple had three more children, Violet Ann, William and Winifred, and were still living in Retford in 1911. John died in 1955.
William Hartley, now employed as an engine fitter's labourer, and his wife had moved to 25 East Street, East Retford, by 1901. In the home on the night of the census were their married daughter Alice Smith (m. 1900 Frank Smith), George, an assistant to a fish and game dealer, and Mabel who was school age. Alice (Smith) has not been traced after 1901.
Charlotte and her sister Ann have not yet been traced on the 1901 census. However, three years later, Annie (20) living at 50 Matilda Street, Sheffield, married Joseph Plant (21) a collier, residence Duke Street, Sheffield, on 22 January 1894 at Sheffield Cathedral Church of SS Peter & Paul. Later the same year her sister Charlotte, resident of Beighton, married James Johnson (28) a collier, residence Swallow Nest (Aston), at Beighton parish church on 26 March.
Elizabeth had married William Robert Kirton at St Swithun's on 25 December 1900; Elizabeth used the first name 'Lily' on the marriage record and on the 1901 and 1911 Census, but was listed as 'Elizabeth' on the 1921 Electoral Roll and the registration of her death (1926 JAS). In 1901 she and her husband, a fish and rabbit dealer, together with their daughter Bertha, were living at 37 Beardsall's Row, East Retford.
Sarah Jane has not yet been traced on the 1901 Census but married Walter Rogan in 1902 (reg. Worksop). The couple had six children: William (1904), Mabel (1907), Albert Edward (1908), George Cornelius (1911), Walter (1914 d. 1914) and Walter (1916). Walter snr. served in the war (15128 L/Sergeant 10th Bn Sherwood Foresters) and was killed in France on 14 February 1916. Her son Harry (1918) served with the South Notts Hussars in World War 2 and died after being taken prisoner. (See records on this Roll of Honour)
William died in 1905 age 53 and his widow Ann in 1907 age 61.
Their two youngest children, George and Mabel, were living with their married sister, Elizabeth (k/a Lily), her husband William Kirton, and their three children, Frank, Gladys and Alfred, at Peatfield Buildings, Woolpack Street, Retford, in 1911. William was still working as a fish and rabbit dealer but George was now a labourer (India rubber works), his sister was a laundry hand. William and Elizabeth were still living at the same address at the time of the 1921 Census. Elizabeth died in 1926 aged 46.
Mabel (26) residence 37 Beardsall Row, Retford, the home of her sister Elizabeth Kirton, married Charley Thomson (23) a miner, residence Swallownest, at Aston cum Aughton All Saints on 14 June 1914. One of the witnesses was Mabel's niece Bertha Kirton. She and Charley had three children, Ada (1914 JAS), Charley (1915) and Colin (1916).
George named his seven surviving siblings, Charlotte, Ann, John, Elizabeth, Alice, Sarah Jane and Mabel, as his legatees.
George Hartley enlisted at Lincoln, home address East Retford. There are few records of his service with the 1st Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment, but given that he served with the BEF France from 13 August 1914 it is likely that he had either transferred to the regular army from the Militia (no record identified) or had served with the Regiment long enough to have received sufficient training to be an effective soldier in wartime.
The 1st Battalion was in Portsmouth at the outbreak of war, part of 9th Brigade, 3rd Division. It probably first saw action around 23 August, less than a fortnight after landing in France.
George died the following year on 5 April 1915 and is buried in Niederzwehren Cemetery, Kassel, Hessen, Germany (grave reference V.A.9). The history of the Cemetery and his date of death suggest that he had been held as a prisoner of war either in a camp at Kassel or one of the other camps in Germany. The Army's Register of Soldiers' Effects also notes that he might have been a prisoner of war and gives the name of Sennelager Prisoner of War Camp [Westphalia]. The uncertainty about his fate would account for the discrepancies in the date of his death. (See 'Extra information')
George qualified for the 1914 Star, the British War Medal and Victory Medal.
CWGC: History of Niederzwehren Cemetery. Kassel is a city in the centre of Germany about 165 kms south of Hannover. 'The cemetery was begun by the Germans in 1915 for the burial of prisoners of war who died at the local camp. During the war almost 3,000 Allied soldiers and civilians, including French, Russian and Commonwealth, were buried there. In 1922-23 it was decided that the graves of Commonwealth servicemen who had died all over Germany should be brought together into four permanent cemeteries. Niederzwehren was one of those chosen and in the following four years, more than 1,500 graves were brought into the cemetery from 190 burial grounds in Baden, Bavaria, Hanover, Hesse and Saxony [burial grounds listed].' (www.cwgc.org)
Additional research and information Peter Gillings. Family/military history revised (RF).
Newark Herald, 'Marriages’, 5 April 1873: ‘William Hartley, son of George Hartley, to Ann Lane residence county Alabama USA, daughter of William Lane, married 1873, East Retford.' (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)
There is a discrepancy in official records as to George's date of death; records give either 2 April 1915 or 5 April 1915. CWGC and Lives of WW1 websites: 2 April. Soldiers Died in the Great War, WW1 Campaign Medals and Registers of Soldiers' Effects: 5 April. This Roll of Honour has used the later date. There are no family details on the CWGC record.
Registers of Soldiers' Effects: 6298 Pte 1st Bn Lincs. 'POW? 5 April 1915 Sennelager.' Issue of payments 22 October 1915 were cancelled ‘Will received’. Payments would have been made to his brother John and married sisters Charlotte Johnson, Annie Plant, Elizabeth Kirton, Alice Smith, Sarah J Rogan and Mabel Thompson. However, it seems likely that these payments were later made to his siblings in December 1915, with another small payment to his brother John in 1919 ‘for dis-sic [distribution?]’.
George's elder brother John attested in the Militia on 23 January 1893: 2837 Private 4th Bn Sherwood Foresters. He was 18 years old, a labourer and living with his father, William, of 14 East Street, Carold Gate, Retford, whom he named as his next of kin. John then attested on 8 February 1893 on a 12 year Short Service Engagement (7 years with the Colours, 5 years Reserve) in the Derbyshire Regiment (475 Private). He joined the Depot on 8 February and initially posted to the Training Battalion. John was discharged on 28 March 1897 at his own request on payment of £18 under Art. 1142 RW 96. Service toward engagement 28 March 1897 (date of discharge) 3y 49d. Pension 28 March 1897 3y 49d. Service: Home 8 Feb 1894-1 May 1896 (2y 83d), South Africa 2 May 1896-28 March 1897 (331d). Mounted Infantry Certificate awarded Aldershot 27 November 1895.
George's brother-in-law, Walter Rogan, his sister Sarah Jane's husband, served in the war (15128 L/Sgt 10th Bn Sherwood Foresters) and was killed in action on 14 February 1916. (See record on this Roll of Honour)
George's nephew, Harry Rogan (b. 1918), the son of his widowed sister, Sarah Jane Rogan, served in the Second World War with the South Notts Hussars (93804 Gunner) and died on 21 October 1942 while a prisoner of war. (See record on this Roll of Honour). Two of Harry's brother also probably served in the Second World War: Albert Edward b. 1908 (13096151 Sergeant, Unit 421 Pioneer Corps), enlisted 17 July 1941 (Worksop), discharged in 1954, and George Cornelius b. 1911 (1910527 Sapper Royal Engineers) enlisted in 1940, discharged 17 November 1941 (released 'C' indef) date 29 September 1945.
Photo of George Hartley
Niederzweisren Cemetery, Kassel, Germany courtesy of the cwgc