Skegness Lad Killed In Air Raid
Among the Naval ratings killed in the recent air raid by the Germans on Chatham we regret to record that a Skegness lad was among the victims. This was Percy Hare, the only son of Mr and Mrs Henry Hare, of Algitha Road. The deceased lad joined the Navy some months ago, and was stationed at Chatham undergoing training. Prior to entering the Service he assisted his father in the baking business. The family are well-known in Skegness and neighbourhood, and Mr Hare has for several years been prominently identified with the Wesleyan cause locally, while his dead son was secretary of and a teacher in the Skegness Wesleyan Sunday School, and was also qualifying as a local preacher in the circuit.
[Lincolnshire Standard and Boston Guardian: Saturday 15th September 1917]
Stephen Percy Hare was born on 31st March 1897 in Skegness, Lincolnshire. He was the only child to Henry and Annie Hare. Henry was a baker, and the family lived on the main shopping thoroughfare, leading to the seafront.
The 1901 census recorded the family residing at 29 Lumley Road, where the ground floor presumably served as the bakery, with the upstairs as their living accommodation.
The following census records take some unpicking. Annie Hare was recorded as being a boarding house keeper, and was living with Stephen at 25-27 Lumley Road. They had two residents – bakers Robert England and George Gay. Henry is absent from the record, but at No. 23 were John and Eliza Hare, aged 73 and 67 respectively and possibly Henry’s parents, were running another boarding house with their three adult daughters.
When war broke out, Stephen was just 17 years of age. He was too young to formally enlist, but he had his chance when, on 1st December 1916, he joined the Royal Navy. Send to HMS Pembroke, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent, his baking background stood him in good stead, and he was given the rank of Cook’s Mate 2nd Class. His service papers show that he was just under 5ft 8ins (1.7m) tall, with fair hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion.
Cook’s Mate Hare spent the next nine months learning his trade. By the summer of 1917, Pembroke was a busy and cramped place. The battleship HMS Vanguard had been sunk, leaving its replacement crew, waiting in Chatham, with nowhere to go. There had been an outbreak of spotted fever, and the decision was taken to turn the dockyard’s Drill Hall into temporary accommodation. Stephen was one of those to be billeted there.
On the evening of the 3rd September 1917, five German Gotha bombers undertook the first night time raid on Britain. Chatham was in their line of fire, and two bombs landed direct hits on the Drill Hall. Cook’s Mate Hare was among the dozens of sleeping men who lost their lives when the glass roof shattered and crashed down on them. He was just 20 years of age.
The body of Stephen Percy Hare was taken back to Lincolnshire for burial. He was laid to rest in the town’s St Clement’s Churchyard.
[Note: the photo above is of the memorial to the Chatham Air Raid victims, close to the mass grave for those whose bodies were not identified, in Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, Kent.]
Death and Service 