27 Jul 2005
Husband: Leslie Patrick HARTE died at age: 31
Born: 18 Aug 1909 at Westbury, Holden Road, North Finchley 1
Education: LDS, LRCS (England), DMD (Harvard)
Occupation: Dental Surgeon
Military: Capt. Army Dental Corps - att'd RAMC
Died: 25 Apr 1941 in Mediterranean 2,3,4,5
Buried: May 1941 in Alexandria Egypt Hadra 2.A.1 6
Resided: 6 Feb 1935 at 23 Nassau St, London W 1 7
Father: Percy Charles HARTE
Mother: Edith RUSS
Wife: Doris May PONTING Nickname Doree died at age: 77
Married: 6 Feb 1935 at All Souls Langham Place 8
Born: 1908 in London 9
Died: 1985 in Worthing Sussex
Resided: 6 Feb 1935 at Pembury, Friern Lane, Whetstone 10
Father: William Robert PONTING
Mother: Unknown
M Child 1: Richard Alan HARTE age: 68
Born: 1 Sep 1936 in London
Occupation: Miller - ex farmer, publican
Spouse: Sandra Jane VIDGEON b. 28 Jul 1944
Married: 21 Aug 1965 in Findon Parish Church
F Child 2: Diana HARTE age: 66
Born: 1 Aug 1938 in London
Emigrated: 1960's [?] to Australia
Spouse: Alexander STUART Nickname Sandy
Married: 1 Jun 1968 in Findon Sussex
Died: June 2005 in Australia
Sources:
(1) Certified Copy, Birth registered by Percy Charles Harte - Bank Manager - on
28 Sep 1909 before George Smith Registrar [entry no. 32]
(2) Maj R A Stephen, 'nobody saw him embark on a boat........One of the ships
that did get away was sunk.....A destroyer was sunk picking up survivors and I
know definitely that Leslie wasn't aboard it. I found that out from one of the
survivors. I can't tell if he was on the first boat or not', 13 Jun 41.
(3) Maj R A Stephen, 'At one time it looked as if our unit was going to be
captured so a proportion of them were evacuated ahead of the rest. Leslie was
amongst these. The majority of these embarked on a Greek ship which was
attacked by dive bombers and sunk. Two destroyers went to the rescue and both
of these were sunk. There were only eight survivors from the three ships', 5
Oct 41.
(4) Winston Churchill, The Second World War, "During the nights of the 24th and
25th, 17,000 men were brought out, with the loss of two transports. On the
following night about 19,500 were got away from five embarkation points. At
Nauplion there was disaster. The transport Slamat in a gallant but misguided
effort to embark the maximum stayed too long in the anchorage. Soon after dawn,
when clearing the land, she was attacked and sunk by dive-bombers. The
destroyers Diamond and Wryneck, who rescued most of the 700 men on board, were
both in turn sunk by air attack a few hours later. There were only fifty
survivors from all three ships.", vol III ch 12- The Greek Campaign.
(5) Certified Copy, HARTE Leslie Patrick P/93936/5 - Lt (WS/Capt) Army Dental
Corps [Emergency commission] age 31: date of death 'between 28/4/1941 and
4/7/1941' in either Greece or at Sea in the Eastern Mediterranean. Died as a
result of military operations in Greece, Copy of Death Certificate from teh
return of Officers Killed in Action or who have died while on Service Abroad.
(6) Commonwealth War Graves Commission (www.cwgc.org), 'In Memory of LESLIE
PATRICK HARTE
Captain 93936 Army Dental Corps attd., Royal Army Medical Corps
who died on Friday, 25th April 1941. Age 31.
Additional Information:
Son of Percy Charles and Edith Harte; husband of Doris May Harte, of Golders
Green, Middlesex. L.D.S., L.R.C.S.(England), D.M.D.(Harvard).
Commemorative Information
Cemetery: ALEXANDRIA (HADRA) WAR MEMORIAL CEMETERY, Egypt
Grave Reference/Panel Number: 2. A. 1.
Location:
Hadra is a district on the eastern side of Alexandria and is south of the main
carriageway to Aboukir, known as Al Horaya, near the University of Alexandria.
The Cemetery is on the road Sharia Manara. The junction of this road and Al
Horaya is diagonally opposite the University of Alexandria.
Historical Information:
During the 1914-1918 War, Alexandria became a great Anglo-French camp and
hospital centre, and in 1915 was made the base of the Mediterranean
Expeditionary Force. The 1939-1945 War saw Alexandria again an important centre.
To the hospitals were brought casualties from the campaigns in Greece, Crete and
the Aegean islands; camps were set up for men on leave from the desert; Kom el
Dikk Fort (constructed in 1799 by the Napoleonic leader Colonel Criban and
occupied by the British from 1882 until February 1947) was the centre of
military telephonic and telegraphic communications for the Middle and Near East,
the Headquarters of the Military Police and a powerful anti-aircraft base; and
from the port sailed convoys bearing supplies to hard-pressed Malta. The
original part of the cemetery, which is built partly over Roman catacombs, was
acquired in February 1916, when it was found that the cemetery at Chatby, a few
hundred yards to the North-West, would not be large enough for all the burials
from the Alexandria hospitals. It was first used in April 1916, under the name
of Hadra New Military Cemetery, and it remained in use until December 1919.
Nearly all the burials took place from the 15th, 17th, 19th, and 21st General
Hospitals and the Military Hospital at Ras-el-Tin; but a number of graves of
December, 1917 are due to the sinking of transports outside Alexandria. In
December 1919 and January 1920 sixty British graves from some small graveyards
in the Western Desert (due mostly to operations against the Senussi Arabs) and
from Maadia and Rosetta were brought in. There are now 1692, 1914-18 war and
1313, 1939-45 war casualties commemorated in this cemetery. Of these 20, 1914-18
and 68, 1939-45 are unidentified. Also commemorated in this site are 44 Foreign
National and 18 non-world war casualties'.
(7) Certified Copy, Marriage Certificate.
(8) Certified Copy, 6 Feb 1935: Leslie Patrick Harte age 25 Dental Surgeon - 23
Nassau St London W 1 - to Doris May Ponting age 26 - Pembury, Friern Lane,
Whetstone: Church of ALl SOuls ST Marylebone by L F E Foxell. Witnesses - both
fathers: Percy Charles Harte [Banker] and William Robert Ponting [Broker]
(9) Ind, Her father was Pontings Department Store.
(10) Certified Copy, Marriage certificate.