Major Francis Cecil Albert HURT
2/1st Duke of Lancaster’s Own Yeomanry

Date of birth: 11th March 1878
Date of death: 7th January 1930

Died aged 51
Unknown
Francis Cecil Albert Hurt was born at "The Outwoods", Little Eaton in Derbyshire on the 11th of March 1878 the eldest son of Albert Frederic Hurt JP DL and Alice (nee Delme-Radcliffe) Hurt of Alderwasley, Matlock in Derbyshire. He was christened at Wirksworth in Derbyshire on the 5th of May 1878.

He was educated at Hazelwood School and at Harrow School where he was in Small House and Mr. Stogden's House from January 1892 to December 1895. On leaving school he attended the Royal Military College Sandhurst from 1896 to 1898.

He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 1st Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers on the 7th of May 1898, was promoted to Lieutenant on the 16th of April 1900. He transferred into the Royal Fusiliers (City of London) Regiment on the 12th of May 1900. He was five feet eleven and a half inches tall and spoke French and German. He served in the South African War where saw action at Tugela under General Buller and at Colenson. He won four clasps on his campaign medal. He returned to a civic reception in the town of Wirksworth in Derbyshire on the 14th of October 1902. He resigned his commission on the 4th of April 1903.

On leaving the regular army he joined the Derbyshire Imperial Yeomanry with the rank of Lieutenant on the 11th of October 1903 and was promoted to Captain on the 7th of April 1906. He resigned his commission on the 5th of April 1911.

On the outbreak of war he was recalled and was appointed as a Major in the Duke of Lancaster’s Own Yeomanry on the 10th of September 1914. He went to France in March 1915 and served there until the 16th of July 1917 when he came home on leave from Le Havre and arrived at Southampton the following day. While he was on leave he was taken ill and a Medical Board was convened at 3rd Northern General Hospital, Sheffield on the 3rd of August 1917 to report on his case: -

"Whilst on leave from France he developed a nervous irregularity of the heart produced by exertion. The cardiac area is not noticeably increased. The apex beats within the supple line. The action is slightly irregular. Pulse rate 80 at rest. Heart sounds normal. He appears to be "run down". This officer has been instructed to return home and await instruction. Future Boards need not be held at this hospital."

He did not return to the front and was demobilised at the Officers Dispersal Unit on the 7th of April 1919.

He was married to Isabel Clara (nee Strutt) at Christ Church, Belper on the 16th of April 1903 and they had five children, Francis George, born on the 4th of January 1904, Elizabeth Evelyn "Betty", born on the 22nd of February 1907, Roger Anthony Francis, born on the 9th of October 1908, David Seymour Francis, born on the 1st of March 1910, and Nancy Isabel, born on the 4th of September 1921. The family lived at Bonehill Lodge, Tamworth. His wife filed for divorce on the 16th of April 1924 on the grounds of adultery with an unnamed woman, which she alleged had taken place at the Felix Hotel, Jermyn Street on the 8th and 9th of April 1924; there was no defence offered. The decree absolute was granted on the 20th of July 1925. He was re-married to Ivy Crunden (nee de Casembroot) in London in 1926 and they had a son who was born on the 28th of October 1927.

He was a Justice of the Peace and was Lord of the Manor of Alderwasley, Crich, Heage and Castern from 1907 until his death. He was a Master of the Hurt Foxhounds, which he had established in Derbyshire in 1909 and was a member of Boodles.

He lived at Old Park House, Radbourne Derbyshire and he died of double pneumonia. His funeral was held at Alderwasley on the 10th of January 1930.

His brother, Captain Seymour Frederick Auckland Albert Hurt 1st Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers, was killed in action on the 18th of October 1914.
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Went on to Harrow School

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