R. Hadley

HADLEY, Reginald
Private 12456,
5th Battalion, Dorsetshire Regiment.

Born - Nelson, Glam
Enlisted - Cefn Coed, Merthyr Tydfil
Residence - Nelson, Glam
Died - 27th April 1915 at the Connaught Military Hospital, Aldershot - aged 20 yrs

Buried at Llanfabon Cemetery, Nelson - Grave 19.7 to the left of the central path.

Reginald Hadley

Photo by kind permission from Geraint Davies

R Hadley headstone

Son of William and Margaret Hadley, of 51, Springfield Terrace, Nelson.
William Hadley was born in Breconshire in about 1862 and died on 10th February 1920, aged 56 yrs.
Margaret Hadley (nee Prose) was also originally from Breconshire. She was born in around 1861 and died 18th December 1936, aged 76 yrs.

The family grave also remembers Elizabeth Hadley and David John Hadley, children of William and Elizabeth Hadley, and who died in infancy.

On the base of the headstone is a memorial to Annie A. Hadley, L.R.A.M., who died on 23rd October, 1979, aged 76yrs.

The grave appears to be looked after to this day.

Reginald, Annie, Elizabeth and David John were not the only children born to William and Margaret. Their children are as follows:

Annie Elizabeth, b. 1889 (died in infancy)
William Frederick - b. abt. 1890 at Cardiff,
Edward Thomas - b. abt. 1893,
David John, b. 1895/6 (died in infancy)
Reginald, b. 1895/6
Margaret Mildred, b. abt. 1897, and
Annie Aiddwen, b. 1903.

They made their home in the Nelson area at:

13, Heol Fawr, Nelson in 1891

Next door, at number 15 Heol Fawr, the Williams family were living. They lost their son Thomas during the war.
Go to Thomas Williams’ page

By 1901, the Hadley family had moved further along the road to number 32, Heol Fawr. Here the family was living near to the Slade family at 33 who lost their son William Edward.
Go to William Slade’s page

Also, by 1901, the Williams family (above) who had lived next door away from the Hadley family in 1891, when they lived at Nos 13 and 15 Heol Fawr, had also moved to number 34 Heol Fawr where again, they found themselves next door to eachother.

In October 2007, I was contacted by a Geraint Davies who still lives near Nelson, in Quakers Yard. Geraint informs me that his grandfather is believed to be a cousin of Reginald.
I am hoping that will be able to find more information about Reginald, through Geraint. He has already kindly provided me with the photograph of Reginald (above), and agreed for it to be used in this site.

News:

May 1st 1915.

We have to record the death on Tuesday morning, from pneumonia of Private Reginald Hadley, 5th Battalion, Dorset Regiment at Connaught military hospital, Aldershot. Deceased who was 20 years old was the youngest son of MR and Mrs William Hadley, 51, Springfield Terrace and had been in the army since the beginning of November last year.

May 8th 1915.

Nelson soldier’s funeral.

The remains of Private Reg Hadley, 5th Dorset Regiment was brought from Aldershot, where he died on Tuesday 28th April. The corpse was met at the T.V.R. station by a large number of friends who escorted it to his home. The deceased lad joined the army last November and attended to his duties as normal until about a month ago, when a severe attack of pleurisy and pneumonia necessitated his removal from Godalming where he was stationed to the Connaught military hospital, Aldershot. There, despite all that care and attention could do, he passed away on Tuesday morning week in the presence of his father and mother, who had been sent for. In respect to the wishes of his family, the funeral was not of military character but there was a large number of soldiers home on furlough present. The funeral was the largest seen in Nelson for nearly 30 years.

[Source: Merthyr Express]

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