On 22nd July 1915 two Hucknall soldiers were reported to be in the town on leave. Harold Oldfield came home after the war. Frank Kiddy did not. “Rifleman Harold Oldfield, of Hucknall, came home on a week’s leave from a London hospital last Saturday, and during the week he has been visited by his acquaintances, amongst whom he was very popular. He has made good progress so far as the healing of the wounds is concerned, but the injuries have left a lameness in the left leg and a shattered finger on the left hand.
This was due to his having his hand on his knee when the shell burst in the trench. Private Frank Kiddy is also visiting his parents.” Cpl. Harold Oldfield, 1st King’s Royal Rifle Corps enlisted on 6th January 1915 and, after training landed in France on 14th April 1915.
He was wounded in the leg on 16th May 1915 at Festubert and, after visiting his father (the station master at the Great Central Railway Station in Hucknall), returned to France after being treated in London on 28th July 1915.
He later transferred to the Labour Corps, where he was promoted sergeant (no. 222048), and was finally discharged from the army on 20th April 1919.
Rfn. Frank Kiddy landed in France as a reinforcement to 4th Battalion King’s Royal Rifle Corps on 29th April 1915. Wounded shortly afterwards, he was brought back to England for treatment. Arrested as an absentee, he was brought the magistrates at the Shire Hall on 10th November 1915.
Frank Kiddy argued that he had applied twice for leave to visit his father before being sent back to the continent. This being denied he took the decision himself.
He was killed in action serving with 7th Battalion King’s Royal Rifle Corps on 4th March 1916. Buried in Caberet Rouge Cemetery, Souchez, he was the son of John and Lydia Kiddy, living at 108 Derbyshire Lane at the time of the 1911 Census.
Credits to Small Town, Great War, Hucknall 1914-1918
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Sourced from ‘Hucknall Dispatch,’ 22nd July 1915.