Hampshire Regiment
Hubert Francis Hart was born in Gloucester early in 1891 and was baptised at St Catherine’s Church on 20 February that year. He was the son of Francis Ernest Hart and his wife Caroline Ann (née Morgan).
The couple had two children, Hubert and Ernest(born in 1888) and the family lived in Gloucester at 11 Pitt Street, Gloucester and Francis was a cycle engineer and repairer.
We know very little about Hubert’s military service, as few records have survived. He has a Medal Index Card which shows him to have served as a private in the Hampshire Regiment and similarly (number 107603) in the Labour Corps. The existence of this card indicates service abroad.
His Hampshire Regiment number, 36288, indicates that he was serving during the spring of 1917 and with either the 1st, 2nd or 3rd Infantry Labour Companies attached to the Hampshires.
Service in a Labour Corps unit usually came after an individual had been wounded or had suffered sickness and was put back on duties away from the front line, perhaps in the UK.
The recently released Pension Record Card for Hubert does state that he was discharged (from the Labour Corps) on 31 May 1918 due to ‘confusional insanity’.
He was granted an Army pension from 1 June 1918, amounting to five shillings and six pence (27.5p) per week.
On 9 March 1920 Hubert married Margaret Louisa Cratchley at Christ Church, Gloucester. At the time of his marriage his occupation was stated to be a motor mechanic. In the 1911 Census he is described as a clerk.
Sadness was to follow, as twenty-six days later, 4 April 1920, Hubert died, aged 29 and the Gloucester Journal of 10 April reported the funeral. Hubert and Margaret were living at 35 Wellington Street, Gloucester. On Saturday 3 April Hubert returned from business in apparent good health but later was overcome by a seizure and died the following day.
The report stated that he had served in the war, wrongly attributing this to the Glosters and was a member of the Comrades Club. Possibly Hubert was discharged with a form of shell shock or had suffered a head wound at some point, in the absence of any service papers this is difficult to
determine.
His funeral was held at Christ Church in Gloucester and his remains were interred at Gloucester Old Cemetery, where a standard headstone, bearing the badge of the Hampshire Regiment now marks his grave.
Researched by Graham Adams 17 June 2019