Bath: Detail of War Memorial, Royal Victoria Park (Somerset)

Arthur Beach Hatt and Edward Beach Hatt were the sons of Sir Harry Hatt, the Mayor of Bath at the time of their deaths.

 

Information from the CWGC database:

 

Captain Arthur Beach Hatt, MC

Died 01/07/1916

Aged 27

"A" Coy., 8th Bn., Somerset Light Infantry

MC, Twice Mentioned in Despatches

Son of Sir Harry Hatt and Lady Hatt, of Sunnycroft, Bloomfield Park, Bath.

Gordon Dump Cemetery, Ovillers-la-Boisselle, Somme, France (II. M. 4.)

Concentrated from 57d.X.26.d.5.5.

 

Captain Edward Beach Hatt

Died 26/08/1916

Aged 23

"C" Coy., 7th Bn., Somerset Light Infantry

Son of Sir Harry and Lady Hatt, of "Sunny Croft," Bloomfield Park, Bath.

Bernafay Wood British Cemetery, Montauban, Somme (N. 33.)

Concentrated from 57c.S.20.c.

 

In Bath, their names also feature on a memorial in Bath Guildhall and on the war memorial in St Luke's Church, Lyncombe.

 

The other two casualties with the Hatt surname are probably:

 

Corporal Leonard Thomas Hatt

Service Number 506102

Died 14/06/1917

504th Field Coy., Royal Engineers

Arras Memorial, Pas-de-Calais, France (Bay 1.)

 

Sapper James Harry Hatt

Service Number 482265

Died 21/02/1919

Aged 22

24th Base Park Coy., Royal Engineers

Son of James and Sarah Hatt, of 67, Barnardiston Rd., Darnall, Sheffield.

Blargies Communal Cemetery Extension, Oise, France (I. G. 3.)

 

Leonard Thomas Hatt was born at High Wycombe in 1895, being the son of Thomas and Florence Hatt. The 1901 and 1911 Censuses respectively record him living with his family at Hughenden and High Wycombe. He enlisted in the Wessex Divisional RE at Bath in August 1914, when he was described as working as a shop assistant (his address as given as Abbeygate Street, Bath). His service records show that he was wounded (GSW chest) in April 1915, returning to the front with the 504th (Wessex) Field Coy in March 1917. Declared missing on the 14th-15th June 1917, he was later assumed to have died.

 

James Harry Hatt was born at Sheffield in 1896, being the son of James and Sarah Hatt. At the time of the 1911 Census, he was 14 years old and working as a haberdashery assistant. His death was announced in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph of the 27th February 1919, p. 4:

 

"HATT. – On 21st February, at Abancourt, France, 482265 Sapper James Harry, R.E. Signals over four years, the eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. J. Hatt, Milton Villa, Barnardiston Road, Darnall. Bronchial pneumonia."

 

Sapper Hatt's exact connection with Bath is unknown, although his name seems to also appear on a memorial in Magdalen Chapel, Holloway.

Done