Harrogate Herald - 16th May 1917

W H Breare letter

We had a military funeral in Harrogate, yesterday, of a soldier you may know, whose death occurred under unusual circumstances. Private A E Hart, of Mayfield Terrace, joined the MT, ASC, in January of this year. He was in training somewhere in the South. At 6 o'clock on Saturday morning a policeman in the North-Eastern Station at Leeds found him very ill, and immediately sent for a doctor. The soldier died shortly after the physician came. Hart had been granted leave, and reached Leeds on his way home early in the morning, and was waiting for the Harrogate train. An inquest was later held in Leeds, and the medical evidence showed that he died from coma-pneumonia followed by pleurisy - "natural causes". For sixteen years the lad worked for the Harrogate Gas Company, and twenty years was a member of the Harrogate Temperance Band. He leaves a wife, two children, and a mother. Prior to him coming on leave the wife had a letter from her husband saying he expected to be home by the last train from Leeds on Friday. at 2pm on Saturday she received a telegram stating that the husband had died suddenly at Leeds Railway Station. Hart was one of those men whom everybody regarded with esteem. He was 37 years of age. I am sorry to say the good wife will be under the necessity of working to bring up her children. I hope, however, that assistance will be forthcoming from the Government, and that the path of the bereaved family may be smooth. That remains to be seen. The mother is not in a position to help, I think, as she has to work for her living. You will probably find in the Herald, today, a picture of Hart, which may call him to your mind, if your memories have not already done so.

SDGW

Royal Army Service Corps

Private Albert Ernest Hart (M/281673)

Born : Harrogate

Enlisted : Harrogate

Residence : Harrogate

Died : 5th May 1917

Died

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