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2nd Lieutenant William Noel HAZARD
14th (Service) Battalion Welsh Regiment (Swansea) Date of birth: 24th May 1893 Date of death: 26th August 1918 Killed in action aged 25 Buried at Delville Wood Cemetery Longueval Plot XXII Row G Grave 3
William Noel Hazard was born at Pulham St Mary in Norfolk on the 24th of May 1893 the eldest son of William Henry Hazard, a solicitor, and Marguerite (nee Tooth) Hazard of “Caltofts”, Harleston in Norfolk. He was educated at Eversley School, Southwold in Suffolk and at Lancing College where he won an Exhibition and was in Olds House from September 1906 to the 17th of December 1910. He was a member of the Officer Training Corps from September 1906 where he achieved Certificate A in May 1909 and served as a Corporal until he left school. On leaving school he was articled to his father's firm of W.H. Hazard, solicitors, of Harleston in Norfolk. He applied for a commission in the 4th Battalion Norfolk Regiment on the 24th of November 1911 and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the battalion on the 3rd of February 1912. He was promoted to Lieutenant on the 16th of April 1914. On the outbreak of war he was living in Putney and was mobilised with his battalion which was re-designated as the 2/4th Battalion. He resigned his commission in the Norfolk Regiment on the 25th of January 1916, stating that: - "Resigned on finding I had no chance of foreign service with that unit." He enlisted at Waterford as Trooper 14571 in the 12th (Prince of Wales') Royal Lancers on the 28th of January 1916. At a medical examination, which was held on the same day, it was recorded that he was six feet two inches tall. He was posted to the 3rd Reserve Cavalry on the 15th of February 1915 and was promoted to Lance Corporal on the 21st of July. On the 31st of August 1916 he transferred as Private GS/13340 in the 6th Dragoon Guards (Carbiniers) on the 31st of August 1916 and was posted to No. 1 Troop in C Squadron, embarking for France on the same day. He re-applied for a commission in December 1916 and returned from France for officer training on the 15th of March 1917 when he joined the 6th (Reserve) Dragoon Guards. He was posted to 16 Officer Cadet Battalion at Rhyl on the 7th of June 1917 and joined the Scottish Cavalry Depot on the 29th of June. He was commissioned again as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 14th Battalion Welsh Regiment (Swansea) on the 26th of September 1917. By mid August 1918 the allies had broken the stalemate of the previous four years and were in pursuit of the Germans who were falling back but fighting stubbornly as they went. On the 22nd of August a patrol from the battalion crossed the River Ancre and, following a sharp engagement with the German defenders there, they managed to establish a bridgehead. At 10.30pm on the night of the 23rd the rest of the battalion crossed in neck deep water and attacked the following day with little organised opposition from the Germans. By 5pm on the 24th they were at a position to the west of the village of Pozieres. In order to keep their momentum they organised another attack which went in at 4am on the 25th and resulted in an advance of some 2,000 yards to Bazentin-le-Petit before they were slowed by heavy machine gun fire. They formed a defensive line in anticipation of an enemy counter attack but the enemy withdrew at about 4pm. They did not move forwards again until the morning of the 27th by which time Noel Hazard had been killed. His mother received the following telegram dated the 2nd of September 1918: - "Deeply regret 2/Lt. W.N. Hazard Welsh Regiment killed in action August twenty sixth. The Army Council express sympathy." His death is recorded by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission as the 27th of August but the battalion history and school records give it as the 26th. His brother, Lieutenant Robert Valentine Hazard OL 3rd Battalion Nigerian Regiment, died on active service on the 9th of May 1925. He is commemorated on the war memorial at Harleston.

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