Sergeant Joseph Woodward Hurt

Army Number: 2800

Battalion: 1/7th Battalion Sherwood Foresters (Notts & Derbys) Regiment.

Awards: M.M. (Military Medal)

British 15 Star, British War and Victory Medal

Born in Nottingham and lived at Hall Lodge, West Bridgford, Nottingham. Son of John and Maria Hurt, of 17, Highfield Grove, West Bridgford, Nottingham. Was well known in local sports having played football for Sneinton and for Blackburn’s and Notts. Colts at cricket. He was a lace machinist prior to enlisting at Nottingham. Went to France on 28th February 1915 and was awarded the Military Medal London Gazette on 19th February 1917. He was killed in action, on 1st July 1916, aged 21, during the attack on Gommecourt, France, on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

Buried: Foncquevillers Military Cemetery, France. Plot 1. Row L. Grave 28.

Sergeant Hurt is also commemorated on the following memorials;-
West Bridgford War Memorial, Nottingham.
St. Giles Church War Memorial, West Bridgford, Nottingham.

One of five sons who served in France. His brother Corporal William Hurt, 1st King’s Royal Rifle Corps also fell in the Great War.