223324 Pte Nicholas Blythe Hurst British Army 1st Battalion South Staffs from:Walsall Nicholas Blythe Hurst is my maternal grand-father who was born in March 1877 in Rothbury, Northumberland. I understand, from my mother, that he served in the South Staffs during the Boer War, though I have no supporting evidence. He found himself destitute in Walsall in the late 1890's when the circus, for which he was the front runner, went bust. He married my grand-mother, Ada Powell on 25th November 1901.
Nicholas joined up as soon as WW1 was declared and embarked for Europe on 11th November 1914 as part of the British Expeditionary Force. He was medically discharged in July 1917 having been wounded. He received the usual Pip, Squeak and Wilfred but there are no other references to him in National Archives or the Battalion records.
|