G/12311 Pte Ruben Cecil Harradence, 20th Bn, Middx Regt

The Kaiser's men continue their push forwards and 1786 British Army officers and men die. 26th March 1918.

G/12311 Pte Ruben Cecil Harradence of the 20th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment, was killed in action on this date. He was born in Shepherd's Bush, was living in Lower Edmonton, and enlisted at Mill Hill. Pages from his service record survive in the WO 363 series at the National Archives, and the following information is taken from this.

Ruben Harradence enlisted on the 1st February 1916. He was 19 years and six months old, five feet five inches tall, and he gave his address as 21 Balham Road, Lower Edmonton. His occupation is recorded as clerk.

Ruben was posted to the 15th Battalion on the 9th February and, after a brief period training, was sent to France. He arrived there on the 3rd May 1916 and was immediately posted to the 13th Battalion. He was posted again, this time to the 12th Battalion, on the 19th June.

In 1917, Ruben was back in England, recovering at the war Hospital Huddersfield as a result of trench fever (PUO or pyrexia of unknown origin according to his service record). At that stage he was with the 15th (2nd Reserve) Battalion, but a transfer document notes that he is to be transferred to the 20th Battalion. He had arrived back in England on the 11th March and so that transfer to the 20th Battalion post dates this. He was granted leave to see his family between the 7th and 16th April 1917. A month later, on the 25th May 1917, he returned to France for the last time.

Ruben Harradence sailed for France with the 13th Battalion, was posted to the 16th Battalion on the 20th July, and finally to the 20th Battalion on the 11th February 1918. He was granted leave between the 21st February and 7th March 1918 and this would have been the last time that his family saw him alive.

Ruben Harradence (Reuben according to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission) has no known grave and is commemorated on the Arras Memorial.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry (MIC)
Soldiers Died in The Great War
Army Service Numbers
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission