Harold's Story.
EARLY LIFE
Harold Wardle was born in Macclesfield on 24 September 1895 and baptised on 14 November 1895 at St John's Church, Statham Street, Macclesfield, the son and youngest child of Sarah Jane (née Cattermore) and John Wardle, a labourer of 8 Samuel St, Macclesfield. Harold was admitted to Lord Street School in November 1899 (his year of birth was wrongly recorded in the admission register as 1894).
By 1901 Harold's father had died, and six-year-old Harold was living at 22 Watercotes (also known as Waterside), Macclesfield, with his widowed mother and siblings George (20), Arthur (18), Benjamin (17), Mary (14), Elizabeth Ann (12), and Annie (7). The family was at the same address in 1911, but only George, Annie and Harold were at home with their mother.
In 1911, Harold was employed as a printworks tierer - someone, usually a child or youth, who assisted the printer by brushing the liquid dye onto a drum. As Harold is recorded on the Langley war memorial and in the Macclesfield Times report of 30 May 1919, listing the names of Langley residents or workers who gave their lives, he was certainly later employed at Whiston's Langley Print Works, which by 1918 had become the largest silk printing, dyeing and finishing company in the country.
Harold's mother died in 1915 at the age of 64.
WW1 SERVICE
Harold enlisted soon after war broke out, joining the 1st Battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment; he was later transferred to "D" Company in the 2nd Battalion.
It is not known when Harold was drafted overseas, but it was certainly after 1915 as he did not qualify for the 1914/15 star medal. On 17 December 1916 Harold was admitted to No 34 Casualty Clearing Station, at Grovetown, near Albert, suffering from trench foot. On the same day he was taken by No 1 Ambulance Train to a hospital further back behind the lines for treatment. The hospital admission register records that he had then served for 2 years and 3 months.
After recovery Harold returned to the front, and was transferred to the 4th Battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment. Harold was killed in action on 3 August 1918 near Hazebrouck, France, which lies about twenty miles west of Ypres, Belgium.
COMMEMORATION
Private Harold Wardle is buried at Borre British Cemetery, France, in grave ref. II. G. 4. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission holds casualty details for Private Harold Wardle, and he is listed on the Imperial War Museum's Lives of the First World War website.
Locally, Private Harold Wardle is commemorated on the Park Green, Town Hall, St Michael's Church and Langley war memorials.
NOTES
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records Harold's age as 19 when he died; the reason for this error is not known. He actually died a few weeks before his 23rd birthday.
SOURCES
Cheshire Parish Baptism Registers (FindMyPast): St John’s Church, Macclesfield
Census (England & Wales): 1901, 1911
National School Admission Registers (FindMyPast)
MH106: WWI Representative Selection of Military Hospitals Admissions and Discharge Registers (Forces War Records): MH106/719 Medical Records of Servicemen from No. 34 Casualty Clearing Station
WWI British Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects (Ancestry)
Soldiers Died in the Great War (Find My Past)
Commonwealth War Graves Commission website
Macclesfield Times: 30 May 1919
Research by Rosie Rowley, Macclesfield.