Name
Harcourt John Snowden
12 December 1887
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
11/01/1915
27
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lieutenant
Hertfordshire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star, British War and Victory Medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
RUE-DES-BERCEAUX MILITARY CEMETERY, RICHEBOURG-L'AVOUE
I. B. 13.
France
Headstone Inscription
OUT OF THE STRESS OF THE DOING INTO THE PEACE OF THE DONE
UK & Other Memorials
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial, Hertfordshire Regimental Memorial, All Saints Church, Hertford, Individual Memorial Plaque, Lockers Park School, Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted Golf Club Roll of Honour, Berkhamsted, Broadstairs War Memorial, Kent, Rugby School Memorial Chapel, Trinity College, Oxford Memorial
Pre War
Harcourt John Snowden was born on 12 December 1887 in Ramsgate, Kent, and was the second son of Reverend Harcourt Charles Vaux Snowden and his wife Augusta (nee Daniel). His older brother was Arthur Owen.
He started his education at Hildersham House in St Peter's, Broadstairs, Kent, a school which was founded by his father in 1890. He then moved to Parkfield School in Haywards Heath, Sussex and later attended Rugby School which his brother Arthur also attended. In 1906 he went to Trinity College, Oxford as an undergraduate and was awarded a degree three years later. Both Harcourt and his brother became teachers and on the 1911 Census, he was working as an Assistant Schoolmaster at Lockers Park School in Hemel Hempstead, at which time he was living at 7 Charles Street, which was within easy walking distance of the school. It was later reported that he was popular with the boys and that he was a very able sportsman who played for Hemel Hempstead Cricket Club.
Wartime Service
He joined the 1st Hertfordshire Regiment under Lieut-Col. Viscount Hampden's command in June 1913 (then a Territorial Force) as a 2nd Lieutenant. He volunteered for foreign service and went to France on 26 September 1914, being promoted to Lieutenant .
He was killed in action while visiting sentries early in the morning of 11 January 1915 when he was the victim of a sniper and was shot through the chest.
His Major said: "I had such confidence in him that, when I knew that he was the officer on duty, I never went round the posts to see that all was well." And another officer wrote: "He was a fine example to us all of a good and straight living Englishman."
An account of his death, suggests that he was paralysed after being shot. He is buried at Rue-des-Berceaux Military Cemetery in Richebourg-L'Avoue, Bethune, France.
Additional Information
His father received pay owing of £57 0s 5d. Probate was granted to his father in Canterbury on 10 March 1915 with effects of £464 11s 4d. In 2014 Snowden's former cricket club, Hemel Hempstead Town C C, dedicated a trophy to his memory with its Under 12 team competing for it over 3 games against neighbours Boxmoor C C.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer, Derry Warners
Jonty Wild, www.hemelatwar.org., www.dacorumheritage.org.uk., www.hemelheroes.com., www.rugbyschoolarchives.co.uk, www.bedfordregiment.org.uk.
