Name
Arthur Hoye
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Bedfordshire Regiment
7th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Pirton School Memorial
Biography
Arthur appears on the School War Memorial, confirming that he attended the school. Parish records suggest only one man of this name who could have served, and he was born on April 5th 1888 to Elijah and Eliza Taylor Hoye (née Holes). He would have been twenty-six when he enlisted. In all it would appear that three brothers served - refer to Albert Hoye for more family details.
Before the war Arthur was in trouble with the law; on April 7th 1908 Fred Weston, who was the gamekeeper for the Delme-Radcliffe estate, and who also fought and survived, was told of men were hare coursing at Punch Cross Hill and he went to speak to them. The confrontation led to a fight in which Fred was badly beaten. Doctor William Grellett, who attended him later, described Fred; “He was in a collapsed and very faint condition” and “had lost a lot of blood”.
The hare coursers were Arthur Hoye and John Crawley, both from Pirton. Fred was laid up in bed for five days and it was eight weeks before he could return to gamekeeping. Arthur and John were arrested and went to trial. They were tried separately; John Crawley was indicted for unlawfully and maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm and with 17 previous convictions was sentenced to 18 months hard labour. We have no information on the sentence passed on Hoye.
In 1911, Elijah and Emily were retired and living with their son, William and grandson Peter Sexton in Workhouse Yard (somewhere near the junction of the High Street and Walnut Tree Road), and his brother Albert lived close by. Arthur is missing from the census, so presumably living or working away from Pirton.
He is recorded in the Parish Magazine of October 1914 as enlisting and serving in the Royal Army Medical Corps – which may be an error as the Parish Magazine of September 1915 lists the 1st Bedfordshire Regiment and in the June 1917 Magazine the 7th Bedfordshire Regiment. The latter two both record wounds. The North Herts Mail of July 15th 1915 explains the wounds, reporting that he had been home from Nottingham Hospital, where he had been recovering from bullet wound to his jaw and that, just a month earlier, he had been wounded in the groin. Intriguingly in the North Herts Mail of July 13th 1916, it is reported that he was in St Albans and stole a bicycle from outside the Queen’s Hotel. He had entered, had a drink, left hurriedly and stolen a bicycle belonging to Joseph Hawes. He was caught and agreed to go to the police station, but then darted down Victoria Street. He was caught again, but again escaped by running down St Peter’s Street. He was caught yet again, and this time arrested. Two weeks later he had been charged and was in court. He said ‘I admit I stole the bicycle and I am very sorry. I did it because I did not want to go back to France. I am a deserter and have been wounded twice.’ That carried no weight and he was committed for trial.
Given that he had already been wounded twice, his fear of going back was very understandable. Although committed for trial, he appears, perhaps after some sort of punishment, to have been allowed to return to service. If he had deserted in France, he may well have been shot. His fears were not unfounded, and were perhaps a premonition, as the North Herts Mail of May 17th 1917 reported that he had been wounded again, the third time, but on this occasion just a slight wound in the arm.
The Hertfordshire Express of May 19th 1917 reports that three brothers with the surname Hoye were serving; Albert and Arthur were two of them and William at thirty-one in 1914 is believed to be third.
By 1918, Arthur is recorded as Private 8550, 2nd Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, with his home address as Little Green. However, in the photograph of the three brothers they share the same cap badge which is for the Prince of Wales Leinster Regiment so perhaps he began in that Regiment and was transferred to the Bedfords later.
Acknowledgments
Text from the book ‘The Pride of Pirton’ by Jonty Wild, Tony French & Chris Ryan used with author's permission.
