A few weeks
ago while wandering around the centre of Taunton I came across the Museum of
Somerset in Taunton Castle. Tucked away
in the entrance courtyard is a modest bust commemorating Field-Marshal Lord
Harding of Petherton, someone I had vaguely heard of due to his connection with
the Somerset Light Infantry, but other than that I knew little about him. I decided to do some research.
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| The commemorative bust of Lord Harding of Petherton in the courtyard of Taunton Castle's Museum of Somerset. |
Allan
Francis Harding was born at Rock House in South Petherton, Somerset, on 10th February 1896. His father Francis Ebenezer Harding was a
clerk to a local firm of solicitors and his mother was Elizabeth Ellen Harding (nee
Anstice). Both parents came from large
families - Francis was one of eight children and Elizabeth Anstice one of
thirteen. The Hardings and the Anstices
were descended from yeoman farmers and tradesmen who had lived in and around
South Petherton for hundreds of years.
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| The plaque on the wall of Rock House. |
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Rock House in South Petherton, South Somerset, birthplace of Field-Marshal Lord Harding.
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At the age
of 10 Harding went to Ilminster Grammar School, leaving at the age of 15 to
work as a boy clerk at the Post Office Savings Bank in London. Many of his colleagues were in the
Territorial Army and they encouraged him to join them. Harding applied for a commission and became a
Second-Lieutenant in the 1/11 Battalion of the London Regiment, a battalion of
the 2nd (London) Territorial Division, in May 1914.
After the
outbreak of World War One Harding’s battalion became part of the 54th (East
Anglian) Division. In July 1915 it
embarked for Gallipoli to act as a reinforcing division. Harding first saw action on 15th August when he
was wounded in an attack on Turkish positions.
After the withdrawal from Gallipoli he remained in the Middle East,
participating in General Sir Edmund Allenby’s victorious campaign against the
Turks in Egypt and Palestine. He ended
the war in command of a battalion.
After the First World War Harding served in Britain and India. While home on leave from India in 1926 he
fulfilled a promise to visit a fellow officer’s mother who lived in the Somerset village
of Long Ashton near Bristol. There he
met her daughter Mary, the step-daughter of Charles Harrington Fry of the
famous chocolate manufacturing family, and married her the following year when
his battalion returned to England.
The autumn
of 1940 found Harding in the Middle East where he joined the staff of General Sir
Archibald Wavell and was involved in the planning and execution of Operation
Compass the offensive which led to General Richard O’Connor’s crushing victory
over the Italians in the Western Desert.
At the end
of March 1941 Field-Marshal Erwin Rommel launched a counter-attack with his
newly arrived German forces which led to the capture of several British
commanders including General O’Connor and his successor Lieutenant-General Philip
Neame. Harding took command, stabilized
the situation and, with the Australian Major-General L.J. Morshead, organized
the defence of Tobruk.
During
Operation Crusader, which ended in a victory over Rommel’s forces on Christmas
Eve 1941, Harding was Brigadier General Staff, to Lieutenant-General A.R.
Godwin-Austin commanding 13 Corps.
On 21st January 1942 Rommel counterattacked and by 6th February the British had lost all
the gains made by Crusader.
Godwin-Austin asked to be relieved of command as he had fallen out with
his superiors over tactics. Harding, who
admired and supported his commander, left 13 Corps to become Director of
Military Training at GHQ Cairo.
Harding
took command of the 7th Armoured Division on the 17th September 1942 in time
for the Second Battle of El Alamein.
Four months later, while in pursuit of Rommel’s forces on the road to
Tripoli, he was badly injured when a shell exploded in front of his command
tank as he stood atop it spotting for his artillery. His wounds were very serious and he was
evacuated back to England with his future on active service in doubt.
While
making a remarkable recovery, Harding bought a 130 acre farm with dilapidated
farmhouse near Nether Compton in Dorsetshire.
He and his wife and son moved in in time for Christmas 1943. So complete was his return to fitness that he
was offered the post of Chief of Staff to General Sir Harold Alexander
commander of the 15th Army Group, sometimes known as Allied Armies in
Italy. On New Year’s Day 1944 he flew
from an airfield in North Devonshire to take up his new post in the
Mediterranean. Harding served on
Alexander’s staff until March 6th 1945 when he was given command of 13 Corps,
and was in that post when the fighting in Italy ended.
During his
time in Italy Harding was knighted by King George VI. He chose to be known as Sir John Harding,
John being the name he had used throughout his time in the Army.
After the
Second World War Harding’s appointments included, Commander-in-Chief Far East, Command of the British army of the Rhine, Chief of the Imperial General Staff
from 1952 to 1955, and Governor of Cyprus 1955 to 1957. In November 1953 he had been made Field-Marshal.
On
retirement he accepted several directorships including that of Plesseys, the
telecommunications equipment manufacturer, of which he became chairman in
1967. He was also the first chairman of
the Horserace Betting Levy Board.
Lord
Harding died at his home in Nether Compton on 20th January 1989.
Sources:
Harding, John (Allan Francis) first Baron
Harding of Petherton. (ODNB) https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/40129
Harding of Petherton, Field-Marshal, Michael Carver (Weidenfeld and
Nicolson, London, 1978).
Dilemmas of the Desert War, Michael Carver (B.T. Batsford Ltd,
1986).
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