Died
John 26 Oct 1918
Stephen 27 June 1916
George Henry 11 Oct 1918
Born
John 1890
Stephen 1893
George Henry 1898
Sources
Ancestry.com
Cumbriabmd.org.uk (Births, deaths & marriages in Cumbria)
Kings Own Royal Lancaster Regiment Museum, Lancaster
Find My Past
CWGC Website (Commonwealth War Graves Commission)
Place
The Hart Brothers
Three brothers who died in World War 1
The film Saving Private Ryan (1998) gave a fictionalised account of the US armed forces determination not to allow all the sons of one family to be killed in WWII. The gravestone in Barrow Cemetery reminds us that many families DID suffer multiple losses in the First World War. Poignantly, two of the brothers died 15 days apart in the last month of the fighting.
Barrow News Nov 30 1918: Stephen, John, George
Memorial numbered 2025 Fairbairn & Hull
Where is the grave?
From the main entrance, walk up past the Thorncliffe Rd/North Lodge exit. Take next left, then left again on a wide curving path downhill. This is joined by another path coming in from the left, as it bends right. Keep going downhill. The memorial is a very white stone on the left, next to the path.
The Hart Family
The 1911 Census has the following members of the Hart family living at 30 Lyon St, Hindpool:
- George Henry (55) Fitter & turner, Iron & steel works. Born at Northampton, Northants. ;
- Emma (55). Born at Dudley, Staffs.
- Stephen (18) Labourer, Rail mill, Barrow steel works.
- Unice (sic) (15), Factory operative (spinner), Barrow Jute mill.
- George (13)
The account says 5 children born alive; 3 still living (sic). Only 3 were still living at home. The family also had a lodger:
- Albert Price (24), cousin, Plater at Vickers, Sons & Maxim.
The 1911 Census has a married son living at 39 McClintock St with his family:
- John Hart (20) General labourer, Pruss? Foundry, Vickers Sons & Maxim
- Nancy (20)
- John Thomas (1) together with Katherine Flemming (72), identified as boarder, widow and seamster.
The 1901 Census records the family at 30 Lyon St, Hindpool
- George Henry (45) Fitter & turner, Iron & steel works. Born at Thrapston, Northants
- Emma (45). Born at Dudley, Staffs.
- Florine (sic: mistake for Florrie) (14)
- Eliza (13)
- Jno (sic: John) (10)
- Stephen (7)
- Eunice (5)
- George (2)
In Memoriam notice: June 1917HART In loving memory of Private Stephen Hart, Loyal North Lancashires, the dearly beloved son of George and Emma Hart, 30, Lyon-street, who died of wounds received in action, somewhere in France, on June 27th 1916.
Only his comrades saw him fall, He gave his life for one and all.
“Sleep on, dear son, in a far off grave, A grave we may never see,
But as long as life and memory lasts, I will remember thee.”I think of him in silence, no eyes may see me weep,
He sleeps besides his comrades, in a hallowed grave unknown,
But his name is written in letters of gold, In the hearts he loved at home.Deeply mourned by his mother and father, and sisters and brothers, also his brother John in France.
George and Emma married in ****. They had at least 9 children:
- Elizabeth b 1879 m Thomas Tart 1897 St James’, 8 children: see below (parents of Albert)
- George Henry b 1881 d 1882
- George Henry b 1883 d 1887
- Florence b 1886 m 1906 Joseph Prosser Barrow Reg Off or Reg attended (d 1922?).
Remarried 1923 George H Harrison - Eliza b 1888 m 1906 Edward Davies St Mark’s B/W
- John b 1890 m Nancy Fish 1909 St James’, B/W 3 children: John Thomas 1910; Emma 1913; William James H 1915
- Stephen b 1893
- Eunice b 1896 m 1914 Percy Speight Barrow Reg Off or Reg attended. Two children: George Levison (1915) and Gladys (1916)
- George Henry b 1898
Note that 3 sons were called George Henry, and none of them outlived their father, who died 8 Nov 1940, aged 85. Emma died on 23rd Nov 1922 aged 67.
John Hart b 1890 d 26 Oct 1918 presumably during the battle for Querenaing (in the Pas de Calais), which was taken the following day. According to John Hutton Kitchener’s Men: The King’s Own Royal Lancasters on the Western Front 1915-1918 (p76), John Hart was the last Barrow man serving with the 4th KORL to die in France. He identifies him as a private. John Hart also gave evidence at the court martial that led to the execution of John Sloane for desertion in 1916. (ibid p 232)
Lance Corporal 1st Batt King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment); Service no 200800. Enlisted Ulverston Buried Denain Communal Cemetery Plot C 41.
Denain was a German hospital centre during the greater part of the War; and from the 1st November,1918, to the 12th March,1919, the 33rd Casualty Clearing Station was posted in the town. The Communal Cemetery, was used by the Germans to bury their soldiers and (in 1917 and 1918) 153 British prisoners. A British plot was made at the South-East end, after the capture of the town; and after the Armistice the graves of the prisoners and other British graves were regrouped beside it. There are now over 300 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Casualty Details: UK 238, Canada 70, Australia 1, Total Burials: 309
More information about the Cemetery.
The Curator of the King's Own Royal Regiment Museum, Lancaster provided the following information:
He (John Hart) was originally with the 1st/4th Battalion of the King's Own with the number 3144, and this was changed to 200800 as part of the Army wide renumbering of the Territorial Force Battalions in 1917. He enlisted on 20th January 1915 at the age of 27 years. He went overseas to the British Expeditionary Force on 27th February 1917. He was home again from 28th June 1917, and .... was back overseas again on the 5th May 1918, .... this is may be when he joined the 1st Battalion, with whom he was killed in action on 26th October 1918.
Stephen Hart b 1893 d 27 June 1916 (Died of wounds – Ancestry)
Private 10th Batt The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment
Service no 22697. Enlisted Preston
Buried Bienvillers Military Cemetery Plot II. C. 4. Bienvillers: Dept Pas de Calais 18 kilometres south-west of Arras. See image of grave here.
Listed as son of George H. and Emma Hart, of 1, Crookland Terrace, Dalton-in-Furness, Lancs.
George Henry Hart b 1898 d 11 Oct 1918 (Listed simply as G Hart in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission list)
Private 3rd Batt King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment)
Service no 49822 (49827 (sic) Ancestry). Enlisted Barrow in Furness
Records of the King's Own Royal Regiment Museum, Lancaster show that he died at home, probably never having served abroad. The 3rd Battalion was the pre-war Special Reserve/Depot battalion and George Henry Hart is showing as being with them when he died.
Albert Parnham Tart
I initially thought that Albert Tart was a spelling error: Albert Hart could easily be misheard for Albert Tart. However, Elizabeth Hart, eldest daughter of George & Emma, married Thomas Tart at St James’, Barrow in 1897. They appear to have had the following children:
- 1897 Thomas d 1897
- 1899 Albert P (d 1921 – on the Hart gravestone)
- 1901 Comfort (d 1902)
- 1903 Joseph E (d 1924)
- 1905 Elizabeth
- 1907 Emma
- 1910 Sarah
- 1913 William
Albert is on the RAF Muster Roll for 1918.
