Have You a Tiger In Your Family?

Rank : C/Sgt

Army Number : 3153

Unit : 3r 1st & 2nd Bns

Biography :

Reuben Hurst was born in May 1874 in Wigston, Leicester. He was the son of Henry Hurst and his wife Sarah Ann (née Thornton) who were married at All Saints Church,
Blaby, Leicestershire, on 5 th March 1867. Reuben had one brother Albert and four sisters Clara, Caroline, Flora and Sarah Ann. Both Reuben’s parents were originally framework knitters, but by 1881, according to the census record, Reuben’s father had become a ‘fishy dealer’ and the family was living at 2 North Street, Wigston Magna.

By 1891 his father was once again a framework knitter and the family had moved from North Street, Wigston Magna, to 58 Leicester Road, Wigston. By 1891 Reuben, aged 17, had left home and enlisted in the Leicestershire Military District. He had joined the 3 rd Leicestershire (Militia) Regiment on 13 th March 1891 as Private 3952 and was living in the Barracks at Saffron Lane, Glen Parva, Leicester, in April of that year. On 25 th August 1891 Reuben attested to join the Leicestershire Regiment on a short-term basis and became Private 3153. He was now just 18 years old and his previous occupation was noted as ‘Hosiery worker’. He was nearly 5 foot 6 inches tall, with a fresh complexion, blue eyes and brown hair.

On 20 th October 1892, after initial training, Reuben was appointed to the 2 nd Battalion. On 1 st May 1893 he was appointed a paid Lance Corporal and on 1 st April 1894 he was promoted to Corporal. In 1894 his service was also extended to 12 years. He became a Lance Sergeant on 18 th November 1896 and went with his Battalion to Ireland, where on 12 th October 1897 he became a Sergeant. While in Ireland he also met his future wife, Hannah White, a Roman Catholic, and they were married in Youghal, County Cork, on 29 th November 1898.

On 13 th May 1899 Reuben was transferred to the 1 st Battalion and sent to South Africa where the 2 nd Boer War was imminent. His wife stayed in Youghal with her
family. Their son Reuben Henry was born there on 22 nd February 1899. When Reuben joined the 1 st Battalion in South Africa it was stationed at Glencoe, in the north of Natal. When the war broke out the battalion formed part of the brigade of General Penn Symons, the other battalions being the 1st Kings & Royal Rifles, 1st
Royal Irish Fusiliers, and 2nd Dublin Fusiliers. There were also at Glencoe the 18th Hussars and the 13th, 67th, and 69th Batteries RFA.

Fighting commenced on 20th October 1899. A force led by General Sir William Penn Symons attacked the Boer position on Talana Hill. Actual fighting commenced at 3.20 am on the morning of 20th October 1899, when a Mounted Infantry picquet of the Dublin Fusiliers was fired on and driven in. At 5.50 am the enemy occupied Talana Hill with artillery and commenced shelling the camp. The troops were soon set in motion. To the Leicesters and 67th Battery was assigned the duty of guarding the camp with its great quantities of stores. The general decided to attack with his other infantry and artillery. These moved away and were soon in extended order advancing to a wood, which the commander had decided to use as a breathing place. The wood was gained between 7 and 8 am, the 13th and 69th Batteries meanwhile keeping up a heavy and accurate fire on the enemy's positions. About 8.50 the infantry again advanced, and as they left the wood had to face a terrible rifle-fire both from their front and flank. Sir W. Penn-Symons, who had been exposing himself with rash bravery, fell mortally wounded about 9.30; Brigadier General Yule, now in command, directed the infantry to move to a wall stretching some distance along the hillside, from which wall a very heavy fire was being kept up by the Boers. The two batteries redoubled their efforts. The 1st King's & Royal Rifles on the right first reached the wall, followed by some companies of the Irish Fusiliers; the Dublin Fusiliers also made their way up a little later.

After another breathing space under cover of the wall the troops jumped the wall and scrambled up the steep face. At 1 pm the crest was gained and the enemy fled. The Leicesters lost 1 officer killed, 1 wounded, and 1 man wounded. On the 21 st October General Yule moved his camp to a better position. On the 22nd he resolved to retreat to Ladysmith. At nine at night in silence, without bands or pipers, the force set out by the east or Helpmakaar road, the dying general, the other wounded, and the doctors being left. A great mass of stores had also to be left to the enemy, as its destruction would have made him suspect the intended retreat; while, on the other hand, a twelve hours;start was absolutely necessary. To have fought their way to Ladysmith would have been an impossible task for Yule's column in that hilly country. As it was, the Boers showed that inexplicable want of energy which seemed at times in the campaign to paralyse them. Probably the good things left in Dundee had something to do with the lack of activity. It was fortunate that General Yule was not interfered with by the enemy, but the elements were not favourable. The rain at times fell in torrents; roads knee-deep in mud and swollen spruits made marching very heavy work, and little sleep was obtainable between the 21st and 26 th October.

On the 30 th October in the Battle of Ladysmith the Leicesters had a very trying day and suffered about 24 casualties. For four months the Battalion fought throughout the stubborn defence of Ladysmith, during which the garrison was reduced to almost starvation rations. After the siege began the Leicesters occupied posts on the north
side. They were not much pressed, however, in the great attack on 6th January 1900. When Ladysmith had finally been relieved on 28 th February 1900 and its garrison had recuperated, Sir Redvers Buller moved north, the Leicesters being brigaded with the 1st Liverpool, 1st Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, and 1st King#s Royal Rifles. They were present at Bergendal and many other actions but had a remarkable immunity from mishaps and heavy casualty lists.

Reuben, however, was invalided out of South Africa on 10th May 1900. What happened to him is unrecorded. He returned home and in 1901 was stationed at Heath Quarters, Glen Parva Barracks with his wife Hannah. Their small son Reuben Henry, however, was not with them and was living with his grandmother Ellen White and Aunt Mary Ellen O’Brien in South Main Street, Youghal, Ireland.

Reuben was awarded the Queen’s South Africa medal with clasps for Talana and the Defence of Ladysmith. On 13th September 1902 Reuben became a Roman Catholic, having previously been a Methodist. Reuben and Hannah’s second son Thomas Albert (known as Tom’) was also born in Leicester in 1902 but died, aged 4, in 1906. In 1905 Reuben was serving as a Colour Sergeant with the 2 nd Battalion of the Leicestershire Regiment in Colchester, Essex. His service was extended in 1906. On 1 st July 1909 he was serving as a Colour Sergeant with the 1 st Battalion at Shorncliffe, Kent. On 20 th January 1910 he was discharged from the Army at
Shorncliffe and moved to Scarborough, Yorkshire, to run a pub, the Ship Inn at 19 Sandside. He was awarded a Long Service Medal and a Good Conduct Medal.

According to the 1911 census Reuben and his wife were living at the Ship Inn in Scarborough, but without their son Reuben Henry. By 1921 they had left Scarborough and gone to live in Youghal. Reuben died at 104, North Main Street, Youghal, on 4 th May 1926, aged 51. Their son continued to live in Ireland, married there and had a large family.

Information provided by Marigold Cleeve. Princpal Researcher Loughborough War Memorial Museum

Date of Birth : May 1874

Place of Birth : & Wigston & Leicestershire

Date of Death : 4 May 1926

Place of Death : Youghal County Cork, Ireland

Period of Service : 1890s

Conflicts : Boer War

Places Served : Glen Parva Leicestershire, United Kingdom and south Africa