Robert Henry Hammond

Born: 28 February 1884

Died: 24 July 1918

Rank and Regiment: Lance Corporal 23071 in the 7th Battalion of the Border Regiment.

Resting Place: body unrecovered

Memorial: All Saints, Runhall, United Kingdom and; Thiepval Memorial, France

He was born early in 1879 in Bunwell, but was resident in Runhall at the time of the 1911 Census. He was the son of Mrs. Matilda Hammond, of Little Ellingham, and John Hammond, who predeceased him.

Military records show that he came from a large family, leaving four brothers and four sisters surviving him.

He married Laura Amelia Hurrell at Hardingham on 14 June 1905. She lived at 69, Low St., Hardingham, though military records give her address at the time of his death as Runhall.

They had five children: John William born 3 March 1906; Robert Henry junior born 22 July 1908; Edith Mildred born 13 September 1909; Brenda May born 29 April 1913 and Kathleen Mary born 23 March 1914.

He enlisted in the Norfolk Regiment at Norwich on 9 January 1915 with the service number 17869. His military records survive and tell us that he stood but 5 feet 3¼ inches tall and weighed 122 lb (8 st 10 lb). His occupation was given as “Team-man”. The records show that he was transferred to the Border Regiment on 5 November 1915. He was posted to France at the end of December 1915 and was reported missing in action, believed killed, on 7 August 1916.

His grandson Tim Hammond (John William’s son) has written:

He was involved in a suicidal attack at 4.30 pm on 7 August 1916 in Delville Wood, the same attack as Harold Cope whose tunic is on display at the Imperial War Museum…

At that time, the Dereham & Fakenham Times was accustomed each week to print the photographs of local men, mostly those who had been killed or were missing in action. On 6 January 1917 the picture of Robert Hammond appeared, alongside those of four other men, under the heading NORFOLK AND SUFFOLK HEROES, with the caption

“Lance-Corporal Robert H. Hammond, who has been missing since August 7th, and of whom information is sought by Mrs Hammond, near the School, Runhall, Attleborough”.

Sadly, she never received any.

His effects amounting to £3 2s 2d., were paid out to his widow.

His body was never found and he is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Pas de Calais, and in the parish of his birth, Runhall, where he is commemorated both on the War Memorial and on a hymn board.

Thiepval Memorial, France