Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Colour Sergeant G. Hartnett, Essex Regiment

India General Service 1895-1902, 2 clasps, Punjab Frontier 1897-98, Tirah 1897-98 (911 Sergt. G. Hartnett. 2d. Bn. Essex Regt.); Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 4 clasps, Orange Free State, Transvaal, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 (911 Clr: Serjt: G. Hartnett. Essex Regt.) heavy contact marks, edge bruising to first, nearly very fine (2) £400-500

George Hartnett was born at Nusserabad, India on 9 October 1866, the son of Harriet Jane Mecham, the schoolmistress of the 1st Battalion, Essex Regiment. He attested for the Essex Regiment on 28 March 1883, and was posted to the 1st Battalion. Promoted Corporal on 6 August 1885, and Sergeant on 24 November 1886, he was awarded a Certificate as Sergeant Instructor of Musketry at Hythe on 13 December 1889, before transferring to the 2nd Battalion for service in India on 8 December 1896. He served in India with No. 11 British Field Hospital on the Lines of communication, Tirah Expeditionary Force, 1897-98, and was promoted Colour Sergeant on 1 March 1899. He subsequently served with the Battalion in South Africa, and following the end of the Boer War was placed in arrest on 19 September 1902 for absenting himself without leave. Tried by District Court Martial, he was reduced to Sergeant, before being discharged on 29 May 1904.

Following the outbreak of the Great War, Hartnett re-enlisted on 20 September 1914 and was promoted Acting Sergeant on the same day. Posted to the 11th Battalion he was appointed Acting Company Sergeant Major on 25 September 1914. Placed in arrest on 22 May 1915 for being absent, he was tried by District Court Martial and reduced to Corporal on 1 June 1915. Posted to the 3rd Battalion, he was appointed Acting Company Quarter Master Sergeant a week later on 7 June 1915, reverting to Corporal on 18 September 1915. Tried again by District Court Martial for ‘knowingly being privy to a fraudulent entry in a book the content of which it was his duty to ascertain the accuracy’, he was sentenced to 112 days detention and reduced to Private on 23 October 1915. The following year he was again tried by District Court Martial for forgery, and was again sentenced to detention on 1 August 1916. He was released from detention on 21 December 1916, and spent the final year of the War at an Army Service Corps Depot. He was discharged to Class ‘Z’ reserve on 25 February 1919, having spent the entire Great War at home.

Note: Only 33 India General Service Medals were awarded to the Essex Regiment.