Remembering Our WW1 Ancestors

WW1 family history in photographs, postcards and medals.

This website greatwar.co.uk is dedicated to more than 20 men in our family and extended family who served in the military during the Great War of 1914-1918.

These young men of the First World War generation were maternal and paternal fathers, uncles, cousins or brothers-in-law by marriage in the Hackett-Hodson, Parker-Degg, Deacon, and Pipe-Legg families.

Eleven Hackett Boys

Remembering. Private Cecil Hackett, 2nd Battalion Sherwood Foresters, buried at Philosophe Military Cemetery, France.
Private C Hackett grave

A total of eleven young men in the Hackett family served in the British Army. Four were killed and are buried in France. Father and grandfather Arthur Hackett was one of five brothers who served in France. Arthur's eldest brother, David, had been a regular in the Worcestershire Regiment before the war and was deployed to France & Flanders in November 1914. He died of wounds sustained near Aubers in June 1915. A younger brother, Cecil, died of wounds on a trench raid almost exactly two years later in May 1917. Six of Arthur's cousins served, two of whom lost their lives on the Somme battlefield in 1916 in France.

Two Parker Brothers and a Brother-in-Law

Royal British Legion Poppy Wreath

Uncle Thomas Parker resigned as a policeman and enlisted in the Army in November 1915. He was killed almost a year to the day on the Somme battlefield in November 1916, just short by a few days of the drawing to a close of the 1916 Battle of the Somme. Thomas' younger brother, Bill, joined the Royal Flying Corps under age sometime before April 1918 and served at home.

George Deacon, the husband of one of Thomas and Bill Parker's five sisters, served and survived the war. George's younger brother had enlisted at the age of 16 years and 2 months and served over a year before being discharged for being underage. Rejoining a reserve training battalion on his 18th birthday he died of pneumonia at home on 9th November, just two days before the Armistice was declared on 11th November 1918.

Two Devon Men in the Battle of Mons and the Retreat from Mons

The daughter of Private Arthur Pipe and a half-brother of Private Thomas Legg married after the First World War, joining these two families together.

Each of these two men went to war with the British Expeditionary Force as part of the deployment of the first British troops to France in August 1914. On 23rd August Private Pipe was in action at the Battle of Mons, and on the following day, 24th August, the British Army began the Retreat from Mons. Private Legg's battalion arrived to take part in the Battle of Le Cateau during this retreat but he was captured by the German Army. He spent the next four years of the war in a prisoner of war camp. Private Pipe went right through the four years of the war and survived.

HACKETT

Five sons of Arthur & Alice (née Trickett) Hackett of Shenstone, Staffordshire.

Private David Hackett (1891-1915)

Private David Hackett, 1 Bn Worcestershire Regiment.(1)
David Hackett

1st Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment, Service No. 11995

Service (no Service Record survives):

Gunner Arthur Hackett (1892-1957)

Gunner Arthur Hackett, Royal Garrison Artillery.
Gunner Arthur Hackett

142nd (Durham) Heavy Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery, Service No. 338695

Service (no Service Record survives:)

Private Anthony Hackett (1894-1959)

23rd Battalion (from 25/10/15); posted to 5th Battalion 20/2/17, Middlesex Regiment, Service No. 2167

Service Record (Pension Record survives):

Private Cecil Hackett (1896-1917)

Private Cecil Hackett, 2nd Battalion Sherwood Foresters.(2)
Private Cecil Hackett

2nd Battalion, Sherwood Foresters (Notts & Derby Regiment), Service No. 31297

Service (no Service Record survives):

Private Percy Hackett (1897-1970)

Private Percy Hackett, South Staffordshire Regiment.(3)
Private Percy Hackett

2/5th Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment, Service No. 202106

Service Record survives:

HACKETT

British War Medal and Victory Medal, nicknamed “Mutt and Jeff” by WW1 Veterans.
British War Medal and Victory Medal

Three nephews of Arthur Hackett (1830-1929). Sons of Joseph & Jane (née Richards) Hackett of Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire.

Sgt Joseph Richard Hackett (b. 1892)

2/6th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, Service No. 203255 (formerly 148801)

Service Record survives:

Acting Corporal Percy James Hackett (1894-1915)

11th Battalion, Princess Louise's (Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders), Service No. S/6540

Service Record survives:

Private Albert Harry Hackett (b. 1896)

The Silver War Badge, issued from 12th September 1916 to Servicemen who were discharged from the forces due to wounds or sickness as a result of their war service.
Silver War Badge

Army Service Corps, Service No. S4/065996

Service Record survives:

HACKETT

Bronze medallion plaque issued after the Great War to next of kin with a memorial scroll.
Next of Kin Memorial Plaque

Sapper Albert Edwin Hackett

Cousin of Arthur Hackett (1860-1929). Son of John Hackett and Florence of Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire.

92nd Field Company, Royal Engineers, Service No. 49527

Service (no Service Record survives):

Gunner Eric James Hackett (1893-1984)

Nephew of Arthur Hackett (1860-1929). Son of James and Catherine (née Allcott) Hackett of Walsall.

2/2nd South Midland Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, Service No. 831404

Service Record survives:

Gunner Harold Victor Hackett

Nephew of Arthur Hackett (1860-1929). Son of James and Catherine (née Allcott) Hackett of Walsall.

Royal Field Artillery, No. 1557, and 846241

HODSON

Private William (Bill) Hodson (b. 1882)

Son of William and Alice Helena (née Taylor) Hodson of Elmhurst, Staffordshire.

Hampshire Regiment, Service No. 202850.

Private Joseph Hodson (1884-1916)

Brother of William Hodson (1860-1940) and uncle of William (Bill) Hodson (b. 1882).

13th Battalion, Kings (Liverpool Regiment), Service No. 48727. Formerly North Staffordshire Regiment, Service No. 25927.

PARKER

Corporal Thomas H Parker, Royal Welsh Fusiliers.
Cpl T Parker

Two sons of Henry and Frances (née Upton) Parker of Rugeley, Staffordshire.

Acting Corporal Thomas Henry Parker (1890-1916)

2nd Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers, Service No. 36892

Service Record survives:

William Arthur Parker

Royal Air Force, Service No. 199411

DEACON

Driver George Deacon (1897-1959)

Son-in-law of Henry and Frances Parker, married to their daughter Constance A Parker and sister of Cpl Thomas Parker and William (Bill) Parker.

Driver, Army Service Corps, Service No. T4/234693

Service/Pension record:

Acting Corporal John Deacon (1899-1918)

Brother of George Deacon.

11th (Reserve) Battalion, North Staffordshire Regiment, Service No. 18297; 53rd YS (Young Soldier) Battalion Training Reserve, West Yorkshire Regiment, Service No. TR/5/88317

Service Record:

DEGG

Son of Alfred Joseph and Elizabeth (née Bostock) Degg of Rugeley, Staffordshire.

Alfred William Degg (b. 1898)

Royal Flying Corps 1917-Royal Air Force 1921, Service No. 63265

Embarked for France, October 1917 with the RFC, saw service with the Royal Air Force and remained overseas until discharge.

PIPE

The 1914 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal, nicknamed “Pip, Squeak and Wilfred” by WW1 Veterans.
1914 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal

Private Arthur F Pipe (b. 1894)

Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, Service No. 8124; Devon Regiment, Service No. 19696; Hampshire Regiment, Service No. 28941

LEGG

Private Thomas John Legg (1892-1929)

1st Battalion Somerset Light Infantry, Service No. 9626

Related Topics

Tracing World War 1 Family History

Corporal T H Parker, 2nd Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers.

See our information page to get you started on where to look for the information that is available to discover more about a relative who served in the military during the First World War. Find out about:

Tracing World War 1 Family History

Useful Links

The National Archives, Kew, Surrey

Website: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

Ancestry.co.uk

Website: www.ancestry.co.uk

Findmypast.co.uk

Website: www.findmypast.co.uk

Forces War Records

Website: www.forces-war-records.co.uk

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Acknowledgements

(1), (2)Photographs of David and Cecil Hackett courtesy of Bob Hartley.

(3) Photograph of Percy Hackett courtesy of Andrew Syk.

Photograph of Cecil Hackett's grave by Andy Irons.

Silver War Badge image courtesy of Martin Fore.