Hartley, Albert – Born: Glemsford, Suffolk in 1893.  Parents: Harry Samuel Hartley of Long Melford (Coconut Mat Maker) and Mahala [née Gridley] (Horsehair Weaver). Home: 3 New Cut, Glemsford, Suffolk (1901, 1911). Occupation: Factory Hand (1911). Married: Emily Kate Challis.[1] Service Record: Albert enlisted in 1915 as Pte.12662 with 9^th [Service] Battalion, Suffolk Regiment, being posted to the Somme Front in France as part of 71^st Brigade, 6^th Division on 31.8.1915.  On 16.9.1916 his unit came under withering machine-gun fire while attempting to take the ridge between Morval and Les Boeufs, a major objective of the Battle of Flers Courcelette, itself one of the many phases of 1916 Somme Offensive.[2] Died: Lance Corporal Hartley was killed in action on 16.9.1916 and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial [pier and face 1C & 2A], Somme, France, and the Glemsford War Memorial.[3]

Hartley, Colin – Born: Glemsford, Suffolk on 19.1.1891.[4] Parents: Joseph Porter Hartley (Coconut Mat Maker) and Kate [née Johnson]. Family Connections: Brother to Eleazer Hartley [b1886] and Lambert George Hartley [b1887]. Home: Brook Street, Glemsford (1891 to 1911), The Bungalow, Brent Eleigh Road, Lavenham, Suffolk (1939) to [1974]. Occupation: Agricultural Labourer (1911), Grocer’s Roundsman (1939). Married: Susannah Lambert in 1917. Service Record: Colin enlisted on 4.1.1915 as Pte.17578 with 10^th [Reserve] Battalion, Suffolk Regiment.  He was posted to France on 12.5.1915 joining 1^st Battalion, Suffolk Regiment as part of 84^th Brigade, 28^th Division.  He was issued with a Silver War Badge and discharged on 9.5.1916 due to the effects of gas poisoning.[5] Died: Lavenham, Suffolk on 26.4.1974.[6]  

Hartley, Eleazer – Born: Glemsford, Suffolk in 1886. Parents: Joseph Porter Hartley of Cavendish, Suffolk (Coconut Mat Weaver) and Kate [née Johnson]. Family Connections: Brother to Lambert George Hartley [b1888] and Colin Hartley [b1891]. Home: Brook Street, Glemsford (1891, 1901), 13 Shilling Street, Lavenham, Suffolk (1911), 21 Bolton Street, Lavenham [1918]. Occupation: Horsehair Tipper (1901), Agricultural Labourer (1911). Married: Mercy Adelaide Brown in 1907. Service Record:  Eleazer enlisted as Pte.17440 with 1^st Battalion, Suffolk Regiment, transferring to 9^th Battalion and finally to the regiment’s 2^nd Battalion.  He was posted to France on 12.5.1915, seeing action on the Western Front.  By 1918 Private Hartley’s battalion was part of 75^th Brigade, 3^rd Division entrenched south of the Arras-Cambrai Road when the German Army launched its Spring Offensive on 21 March.  Determined enemy activity prompted a series of withdrawals until a new front line was established at Wancourt, where on the morning of 28.3.1918 the enemy bombarded the trenches with a three-hour hurricane of high explosive shells, inflicting hundreds of casualties.[7] Died: Private Hartley was listed as missing presumed dead on 28.3.1918.  He is commemorated on the Arras Memorial [bay 4], Faubourg-d’Amiens Cemetery, Arras, Pas de Calais, France and the on Memorial Plaque in St Peter and St Paul Church, Lavenham.[8]

Hartley, Lambert George – Born: Glemsford, Suffolk on 9.9.1887.[9] Parents: Joseph Porter Hartley (Coconut Mat Maker) and Kate [née Johnson]. Family Connections: Brother to Eleazer Hartley [b1886] and Colin Hartley [b1891].  Home: Brook Street, Glemsford, Suffolk (1891 and 1901), 8 Pump Court, Lavenham, Suffolk (1911), Star Cottages, St Catherines Road, Long Melford (1939). Occupation: Horsehair Tipper (1901), Agricultural Labourer (1911), Postman (1939). Married: Maud Elizabeth Mills in 1913. Service Record: Lambert was conscripted on 26.6.1916 as Pte.34506 with 2^nd Battalion, Suffolk Regiment and posted to France as part of 76^th Brigade, 3^rd Division.  During Private Hartley’s time with the Battalion, it saw action during the Somme Offensive of 1916, the Battles of Arras, and Third Ypres in 1917, and an intense period of fighting from March to May 1918 at the Battles of St Quentin, Bapaume, Estaires, Hazebrouck and Béthune.  Lambert was issued with a Silver War Badge and discharged due to wounds on 3.7.1918.[10] Later evidence suggests that he had had an arm amputated due to his injury.[11] Died: Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk in 1979.

Selected Notes – [1] No marriage record has been found; however, the relationship did produce a daughter, Kate Beatrice Hartley Challis in 1915.  [2] For a detailed view of the battle see the battalion’s War Diary [WO 95/1625/1] and Lieutenant-Colonel C. C. R. Murphy, The History of the Suffolk Regiment 1914-1927 [London: Hutchinson and Co, 1928 pp194-199].  See also his Medal Roll [WO 329] and Medal Index Card [WO 372].  [3] Commonwealth War Grave Commission.  [4] Date of birth taken from the 1939 Register.  [5] Silver War Badge [WO 329] [Badge No.42627], Medal Roll [WO 329] and Medal Index Card [WO 372].  [6] Date of death from the National Probate Register.  [7] For details of the Suffolk’s response to the German onslaught see War Diary [WO 95/1437/1] and Lieutenant-Colonel C. C. R. Murphy, The History of the Suffolk Regiment 1914-1927 [London: Hutchinson and Co, 1928 pp260-266].  See also his Medal Roll [WO 329] and Medal Index Card [WO 372], which documents record his name erroneously as Elijah Hartley.   [8] Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects, 1901-1929, Commonwealth War Grave Commission.  [9] Date of birth from the Baptism Register 11.11.1887, St Marys Church, Glemsford, Suffolk.  [10] For details of 2^nd Suffolk’s movements see War Diary [WO 95/1437/1] and Murphy, Lieutenant-Colonel C. C. R. The History of the Suffolk Regiment 1914-1927 [London: Hutchinson and Co, 1928], pp.182-89, 219-25 and 260-68.  See also his Service Medal and Award Rolls, First World War, Silver War Badge [WO 329] record [ref: 417166] and Service Medal and Award Rolls Index Cards 1914-1922 [WO 372].  [11] I am grateful to Nigel Crisp of Hadleigh for sharing this information.  Nigel knew Lambert as the one-armed village postman when he lived in Hadeigh as a boy.