Hugh Harkness, Royal irish Rifles

[hen190782]

Good Evening

Another case of possible mistaken identity

The Roll of Honour for two Belfast Presbyterian Churches - Albert Street and Rosemary Street - record a Hugh Harkness of Argyle Street as a fatality and a clipping from the Belfast Evening Telegraph reports his death at No 5 Stationary Hospital whilst serving with 2nd Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles.

The Belfast Book of Honour, Ireland's Memorial Record and SDGW all record a George Harkness (S/N 8252) as dying on 3rd December 1914 whilst serving with 2nd Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles - IRM record the name as George D Harkness

The Belfast Book of Honour records the death of Hugh Harkness (Royal Irish Rifles) of 95 Leopold Street but does not record service number, date of death or memorial/cemetery.

CWGC records an S Harkness (S/N 8252) as dying on 3rd December 1914 whilst serving with 2nd Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles.

The Ireland Censi returns for 1901 (8 Tennent Street) and 1911 (65 Matchett Street) indicate that Hugh Harkness had a brother called George, but I have located a service records for this George Harkness (S/N 215352, Royal Engineers) with 95 Leopold Street recorded as his address.

There is no George Harkness on any of the Rolls of Honour for Presbyterian Churches in Belfast.

It is my gut feeling that:

• the newspaper picture is of George Harkness (RIR)
  
• the newspaper picture is of Hugh Harkness (RIR) but the caption relates to George Harkness (RIR) ... admittedly, a slim possibility
  
• the "8252, D Harkness" on CWGC is actually "8252, George D Harkness"
  
• the incorrect name (Hugh instead of George D) has been recorded in the PCI RoH ... admittedly, a slim possibility
  

This leaves me wondering whether Hugh Harkness id actually die and would be grateful if anyone can turn up any supporting evidence.

Thanks in anticipation,

Nigel

[ss002d6252]

Presumably you have seen this ?

Hugh Harkness, private, R.I.R., died December 4th at Stationary Hospital Le Mons, result of railway accident in France.

http://www.glenavyhistory.com/glenavy_links_stmatthews_belfast.html

Craig

[hen190782]

Craig,

Actually no I had not seen that website and it is interesting that the article posits that 8252 George Harkness may be Hugh Harkness (although I think that the BBoH, SDGW & IMR records do nit support this possibility).

It is still strange that his name does not appear on IMR, CWGC or SDGW and that CWGC does not have anyone called Harkness as dying on 4th December 1914.

Nigel

[jdoyle]

might be making it slightly more confusing. The MIC for a W Harkness, no 8252, 2nd Royal Irish Rifles lists died from injuries in a rail accident. 1914 Star, qualified 19/9/1914.

There is an MIC for a George Harkness, no 3/8252, Royal Irish Rifles, BWM +VM but no indication that he died,

SDGW lists 8252, Royal Irish Rifles, George Harkness as Died (as opposed to KIA or DoW) 3/12/1914. Born Ballymena; enlisted Belfast. The Died could tie in with death as a result of a railway accident.

No MIC for a Hugh Harkness, Royal Irish Rifles.

Alexander Harkness, RMLI has an address of 95 Leopold St, Belfast. He would match with the 1901 census record for Tennent St. He is in China/East Indies in the 1911 census.

[jdoyle]

will of 8252 George Harkness

http://soldierswills.nationalarchives.ie/reels/sw/HarknessG_E71456.pdf

[hen190782]

Johnny

Thanks for this information - ironically, the 95 Leopold Street link above points to one of my websites! Alexander Harkness, like his brother George, is also not listed on the Albert Street RoH and unfortunately the church's war memorial was destroyed in an arson attack in the early 1970s.

3/8252 George D Harkness died on 3rd December (CWGC records serving with 2nd Battalion) and BBoH records death from pneumonia - the will indicates that he was illiterate, whereas the 1901 Census records that Hugh, George and Alexander could read and write.

MIC for 8252 W Harkness, 2nd Royal Irish Rifles, is listed as dying from injuries on 4th December as the result of a rail accident which ties in with the newspaper picture caption (which only gives the initial "H", which could be a typo for "W") but the information about St Matthews Church in the Glenavy History website (link above) specifically refers to Hugh Harkness. I suppose that it is possible that the person preparing the MIC recorded "W" instead of "H".

This is the picture clipping from the Belfast Evening Telegraph:

You will see that it records 2nd Battalion RIR, which could be Royal Irish Regiment or Royal Irish Rifles - I had assumed the latter

I found the following in the Belfast News Letter (09/12/1914):

You will see that it mentions an H Harkness, Royal Irish Regiment (Argyle Street, died from pneumonia) and Hugh Harkness, Royal Irish Rifles (Winchester Street, died after railway accident.)

On checking back to the original of the PCI RoH, Hugh Harkness is recorded with an Argyle Street address, so I now think that he is not the railway fatality and am now going to restart research based on the 30 Argyle Street address - this would also explain why his brothers George and Alexander were not recorded on PCI RoH.

Other comments are still welcome.

Thanks

Nigel

[W.J.Caughey]

Nigel.

The only thing i can add is the Irish soldier will Johnny posted, was he to weak to sign the will, it seems to be dated 3/12/1914

and if that's his wife initial on will, what letter is it?

I am brain dead on this one!

Walter

[hen190782]

Walter

I have a parallel topic running on Belfast Forum.

The initial of the wife seems to be J,

The Harkness that died in December 1914 had seemingly married a Helen Boyce in April 1914 in Albert Street PC (which would explain why a CoI is on the PCI RoH) and they had a son called Hugh, who was born after his father's death. The In Memoriam Notice that you sent seems to link the Hugh Harkness living in Argyle Street with his in-laws to the Harkness family living in Leopold Street whic had resided in Matchett Street (1911 Census) and Tennent Street (1901 Census).

I am wondering whether the BNL mixed up the cause of death for H Harkness (Argyle Street) and Hugh Harkness (Winchester Street) - i.e. H Harkness died of railway accident injuries and Hugh Harkness died of pneumonia - after all they were both in the same battalion and probably in the same hospital at the same time!

Do you happen to know if the War Memorial in St Matthews' Church includes all three brothers?

Thanks

Nigel

[Don]

Hello Nigel

It seems to me that his will was written by C.T.Horan Chaplain and he was so weak he maked it with a X.

and it was witnessed also by Pte AW Jones RAMC.

Gerry

[W.J.Caughey]

Nigel, on my St Matthews COI roll of honour list only Alexander and Hugh are listed.

Now i found this in my files 7252 Harkness. G. Cant find a medal card for 7252

I see another 2nd Bn Royal Irish Rifles soldier same number as Harkness.

COHEN, HENRY

Rank:Rifleman

Service No:8252

Date of Death:05/01/1915

Regiment/Service: Royal Irish Rifles

2nd Bn.

Panel Reference Panel 40.

MemorialYPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL

Additional Information:

Walter

[hen190782]

Thanks DonDon

The will is for a G Harkness, the MIC is for a W Harkness and CWGC entry is for a D Harkness and the In Memoriam notices that Walter sent are for Hugh Harkness.

I can see how the the initial might have been transcribed as W instead of H on the MIC but that does not explain the discrepancies in the Will and, more importantly, CWGC.

Nigel

[hen190782]

Walter

I note that the date of the release is 9th December 1914, which is the same date that the notices I post at #6 appeared in the Belfast papers.

I think the 7252 is a typo for 8252 - it looks like there might have been two sets of records on the go - one for G Harkness and one of W (mistranscription of H) Harkness.

[hen190782]

Walter

Does the St Matthews' Roll of Honour only list fatalities?

George Harkness served with Royal Engineers (have seen his service record on Ancestry with the 95 Leopold Street address) and survived the war, dying in 1938.

Nigel

[W.J.Caughey]

Walter

Does the St Matthews' Roll of Honour only list fatalities?

George Harkness served with Royal Engineers (have seen his service record on Ancestry with the 95 Leopold Street address) and survived the war, dying in 1938.

Nigel

As far as i am aware the memorial plaque lists those that died. there may be a separate book that lists those that served, (which i have not got) the Church magazine only goes up to Dec 1916.

Just in case its significant. In 1915 Belfast Street Directory, at No 30 Winchester St a Catherine Harkness was head of household.

Walter

[hen190782]

Thanks Walter, I am now fairly certain that Hugh Harkness was the brother of George (RE, survived) and Alexander (RMLI, fatality) and was living with his in-laws in Argyle Street when he died - the family homes were 95 Leopold Street (1918), 85 Matchett Street (1911) and 8 Tennent Street (1901).

Nigel