Douglas Hadfield

DOUGLAS HADFIELD

6496, Lance Corporal, Douglas Duncan Hadfield, “B” Company, 16th Battalion Manchester Regiment.

Born in 1892 at Malaunay, France, son of James and Mary Jane Hadfield. The 1901 census shows the Hadfield family resident at Bridge End, Chapel-en-Frith, Derbyshire, where James was a publican. Douglas was the third child of five; his siblings were Clara, Alice Evelyn, Kathleen Victoria, and John Henry Saxton.

By 1911, young Douglas was a boarder with Mr and Mrs Arthur Holroyd at 2, Reservoir Street, Rochdale, Lancashire; he was an apprentice calico worker. It is recorded that his father James was the manager at the Oak Bank Print Works, Bollington, but living at Furness Vale in 1911. In the same report it says that Douglas had been an Assistant Scoutmaster of the Bollington Scout Troop.

Douglas attested in Manchester in 1915 and after his basic training was drafted with the British Expeditionary Force to France on 8 November 1915. He was killed in action at the battle of the Somme, Thursday, 12 October 1916, he was aged 24 years.

Medals: 1914/15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal.

Lance Corporal, Douglas Duncan Hadfield is commemorated on the Thiepval War Memorial, Somme, France.
C.W.G.C. Ref: – Pier and Face 13A and 14C.

Also refer to

• Bollington Troops pre WWI
• Photos from Barnswood archive Macclesfield WW1
• Photos of Bollington Scouts pre WW1 from Heritage Centre
• Macclesfield Times Scouting service in the Great War Feb 1918
• ‘Big Hats, Shorts and Dyb Dyb Dyb’ – a history of Macclesfield and Congleton Scouts by Norman Gosling
• Photos from Barnswood archive Bollington WW1