Private 25220 12th Battalion South Wales Borderers (Also served as Private 8145 Army Cyclist Corps.) Spent periods attached to 229 Company Royal Engineers and the Machine Gun Corps. Son of George Harding, widower, of Aylesbury Road. Brother of Edward and Sam. Enlisted at Northampton in 191/f, where working as an engineering apprentice. Age 23. Killed in action 1lth March 1917 near Clery-sur-Somme. On the 8th March the battalion moved into the Clery south sector to relieve the 2nd Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers. The relief was completed at 10.50pm. It was reported that the trenches were continuous and good. The enemy wire was thick,, while the battalion's was moderate. Throughout the 9th there was much enemy trench mortaring, but no German patrols were encountered. On the 10th A Company HO was hit by a trench mortar shell; one other rank was killed, and three officer's servants and a gas sentry were wounded. During the night there was gas shelling on the roads and communication trenches. On the 1lth a German aerial dart killed a man of D Company in a sap head, otherwise this was a quiet day. Buried in Hem. Farm Military Cemetery Hem-Monacu; P15t I, Row H, Grave 13. The following letters were received by the family after his death: A Coy 12th SWB Mch 13th 1917 Dear Mr Harding It is with the deepest regret that I have to inform you that your son Private S Harding was killed in action on Sunday March 12th. As you are perhaps aware he acted as my personal orderly & has done so for the last five months. He has always been a hard and conscientious worker, faithful & devoted to duty and he is not only a great loss to the Company & Battalion, but a personal loss to myself and the other officers of A Coy. It may be a slight comfort to know that he suffered no great pain, being unconscious from the beginning. All the officers join with me in offering you all our deepest sympathy. I am sure Cpl Whitworth will be writing to you himself. Yours sincerely Stanley A Sharpe 2nd Lt A Coy PS If there are any further particulars that you would care to know please let me know. I shall only be too glad to do anything can. 231 Coy RE BEF 17/3/17 Dear Mr Harding By now you will have heard the sad news of the death of your son, but I must just write you a few lines to assure you of my sincere sympathy. I have only just obtained your address so could not write before. It was on the I3th that I was called in to take the Burial Service, & his body lies in the small cemetery here, the spot being marked by a cross. At such a time you will of course feel the lost very much but may one not find consolation in what the Saviour has taught us & look for a happy meeting beyond the grave. May God bless and comfort. Yrs sincerely Alex F Bellman (Chaplain) PS This letter refers to 25220 Pte S Harding I2th SWB The official notification of his death states, unlike the Commonwealth War Graves Commission record, states that he died of wounds. When this information is taken with that provided by Lt Sharpe it indicates that Pte Harding was probably one of the three Officers' servants wounded by the shell which fell on A Company HQ on 10th March.

jane elder