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Auction: 20002 - Orders, Decorations, Medals & Space Exploration
Lot: 547

A post-War M.B.E., Order of St. John group of eight attributed to The Reverend Canon J. F. W. Hardy, Royal Army Chaplain's Department, Honorary Chaplain to H.M. The Queen and Chaplain to the Lord Mayor of London, 1974-75

An enthusiastic and driven Chaplain, he enjoyed the company of his flock in the front line and had a close-call when unknowingly taking rest in the basement of a Belgian farmhouse which was bristling with German troops

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, M.B.E. (Military) Member's 2nd type Breast Badge; The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Serving Brother's Breast Badge, silvered metal and enamel; 1939-45 Star; France and Germany Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, the last privately inscribed 'Rev. J. F. W. Hardy R.A.Ch.D.'; Coronation 1953; Efficiency Decoration, G.VI.R., officially dated '1950' to reverse, with three Bars, one G.VI.R., two E.II.R., cleaned and lacquered, very fine (8)

Ex-A. A. Flatow Collection - when sold in company with his wife's Second World War awards.

M.B.E. London Gazette 13 June 1957. The official recommendation by the G.O.C. 49th Infantry Division (TA), states:

'This officer was first appointed as a Chaplain to the 49th Division in May 1939. He served throughout the war as Chaplain to the 49th Divisional Reconnaissance Regiment, with whom he remained until the disbandment of the Territorial Army in 1946. On the reformation of the Territorial Army, in 1947, he returned and was appointed the Chaplain attached to 49th Armoured Divisional Column RASC until February 1950 when he was promoted to Senior Chaplain, 49th Armoured Division (TA) which appointment he now holds.

This officer, by his enthusiasm, personality and drive has welded the Chaplains of the Division into a body who hold a very real position in their formations and units. Despite his civilian duties as a Vicar and surrogate and Examining Chaplain to his Diocesan Bishop, he has devoted very large amounts of his spare time to his military duties.'

John Francis Wrangham Hardy was born on 26 July 1911, the elder son of Dr. Digby Wrangham Hardy and Ethel Smailes of Dewsbury Road, Leeds. Educated at the University of Leeds and Wells Theological College, he was ordained in 1935 and served firstly as Curate at Christ Church, Harrogate, followed by a term as Curate in Charge at East Keswick (The Yorkshire Post, refers).

During the Second World War Hardy served as Chaplain to the 49th Division, being posted to Iceland and Normandy. The Yorkshire Evening Post adds a little more detail:

'In Normandy Beach Landings
As a Territorial Mr. Hardy was at first a Chaplain attached to the West Yorkshire Regiment. He took part in the Normandy landings, and thereafter was in the spearhead of much of the fighting.

Shared with Germans
So much was his "up with the troops," that once he and others shared, unknowingly, a billet with German troops. The place was a Belgian farmhouse, whose woman occupier asked the British troops not to go upstairs, where, she said, was valuable china which she was afraid they would break. The men kept to the downstairs rooms, and moved off next morning. Later that day another unit tried to occupy the farm and found it hotly defended by Germans. The unit, driven back, recalled the Reconnaissance unit which had armour, and this took the farm - and 200 prisoners - which they had so peacefully slept in a few hours before.'

Returning home to civilian life in 1946, he served as a Chaplain at Addingham, near Skipton, and was heavily responsible for major restoration to the church and raising funds for extensive repairs to the church school and rectory. A member of Addingham Parish Council and of Ilkley Rotary Club, he served in Ilkley and was appointed Senior Chaplain to the 49th Division in 1950. Appointed Honorary Chaplain to H.M. The Queen from 1962-64, and again from 1967, Hardy was made Assistant Chaplain to the Order of St. John in May 1965, in which capacity he was elevated to Sub. Chaplain in July 1980 and Chaplain in May 1985. He ended his career as Chaplain to the Lord Mayor of London from 1974-75, before taking a final incumbency as Rector of Green's Norton, Towcester, where he died on 19 July 1993.


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Sold for
£480

Starting price
£100