Name
William Alfred Harradine
8 March 1887
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
28/11/1918
32
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
14848
Hertfordshire Yeomanry
1st/1st
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
ALEXANDRIA (HADRA) WAR MEMORIAL CEMETERY
E. 235.
Egypt
Headstone Inscription
REST IN PEACE
UK & Other Memorials
Not on the Weston memorials, Not on the Ickleford memorials, Not listed on the Hertfordshire Yeomanry Memorial, St Albans Cathedral
Pre War
William Alfred Harradine was born on 8 March 1887 in Ickleford, Herts, the son and eldest child of Alfred and Louisa Harradine, and and baptised on 17 July 1894 at St Katherine's, Ickleford.
On the 1891 Census the family were living at 5 Piersons Yard, Hitchin, Herts, where his father was working as a Carpenter. His family were living at Charlton, in 1901, but William was at The Boys Farm School in East Barnet (an industrial boarding school where they learnt trades, received basic education and encouraged to take up sports).
He married Eliza Swain in early 1917 in Hitchin.
His parents and his wife were living at Damask Green, Weston, Nr Stevenage, Herts at the time of his death.
Wartime Service
William served as Private 14848 with the 1st/1st Hertfordshire Yeomanry in France from 5 November 1914. He served throughout the war but died in Egypt from malaria and pneumonia on 28 November 1918, aged 32. He is buried in Alexandria (Hadra) War Cemetery, Egypt.
Extract of an Obituary from North Herts Mail, 12 Dec 1918:
"After a strenuous period of active Service extending over practically the whole period of the war, the death has taken place of Pte. W.A. Harradine, Herts Yeomanry, of Weston.
It is one of those acutely sad circumstances in which a soldier, after serving for a long period, loses his life after hostilities have ceased, black instances of which kill all hope and shatter all faith, instances the pain of which cannot be alleviated even by the deep and most heart felt sympathy. The deceased soldier had served since the outbreak of war and had taken part in many fierce fights. He had been wounded several times and had fought in France and Egypt."
Biography
Additional Information
His widow received a war gratuity of £24 10s and pay owing of £41 14s 1d. She also received a pension of 13s 9d a week.
N.B. William Alfred Harradine appears on the www.roll-of-honour.com website for the Weston memorial, however his name does not seem be on the photo image of the Weston memorial shown on the website. The Imperial War Museum also lists the Weston Memorial but does not list William as one of the names.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.roll-of-honour.com, www.hertsmemories.org.uk, www.iwm.org.uk
