PRIVATE ARTHUR NORMAN HACKNEY
CANADIAN INFANTRY
9TH AUGUST 1918 AGE 36
BURIED: ROSIERES COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION, FRANCE
Born in London in 1882, Hackney's mother died in 1884 and his father, a surgeon, in 1886. Information about his life comes from his brother, Mr C Hackney of Westwood, Hythe, Kent who composed the inscription and told the War Graves Commission that his brother had served in the South African War.
Hackney's Canadian Attestation form was filled in on 6 July 1917. On it he revealed that he had served with the Aukland Battalion, New Zealand Expeditionary Force from 1914 to 1917 before being discharged. He confessed that the reason for his discharge was 'eyesight'. The accompanying medical form measured his eyesight on the Snellen Scale as 20/32 for his left eye and 20/80 for his right eye and pronounced him 'fit' for the Canadian Over Seas Expeditionary Force.
Hackney served with the 29th Battalion Canadian Infantry and was killed on the second day of the Battle of Amiens when their advance was met by German rifle and machine gun fire well concealed in gun pits among the bushes and brush.
"The men did good shooting at the retiring Hun, both with rifles and machine guns from the hip ... eventually the Bosche was dislodged ... leaving dead and prisoners."
