Private Richard Hardstaff

Army Number: 4304

Battalion: 1/5th Battalion Sherwood Foresters (Notts & Derbys) Regiment.

Born and lived at Matlock Bath, Derbyshire. Son of Joseph and Elizabeth Hardstaff, of “Parade View,” Matlock Bath. He was a coal miner at Swanwick Colliery, Derbyshire prior to enlisting on 9th April 1915. He went to France on 12th October 1915 and was killed in action, on 1st July 1916, aged 21, during the attack on the German positions at Gommecourt, France, on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

Buried: Foncquevillers Military Cemetery, France. Plot 1. Row L. Grave 44.

Private  Richard Hardstaff is also commemorated on the following local memorials:-
Matlock Bath War Memorial, Matlock Bath, Derbyshire.