Born during the March quarter 1908 in the
Manchester R.D. - ref: 8d/254, the son of David
Harding.

1911 Census - 25 Dane Street, Dane Bank, Denton,
Lancashire.    Nephew - aged: 3 - born:
Manchester.  He was residing with his uncle and
aunt - William J. & Alice Isaac and their family
of five.

Married Beatrice I. Perrin during the March
quarter 1931 in the Salford R.D. - ref: 8d/453.

1939 National Registration - 3 Buckingham Avenue,
Weaste, Salford.    Hedley Harding - Married -
Born on the 23rd January 1908 - occ: Gardener plus
Hospital A.R.P. Duty.   Beatrice Harding - Married
- Born on the 31st March 1908 - occ: Unpaid
Domestic Duties.   There is one redacted record at
this address - this is probably their son - Alan
H. Harding born in 1931.

Death registered during the March quarter 1941 in
the Salford R.D. - ref: 8d/949 - aged: 33.

CWGC - Son of David Harding, of 15 Lewisham
Avenue, Newton Heath, Manchester; husband of
Beatrice Harding, of 3 Buckingham Avenue, Weaste.
Injured at Ladywell Sanatorium; died same day at
Hope Hospital.

Manchester Evening News dated the 12th March 1941
reports that Nurses were the heroines of a recent
raid on a north-west town.   H.E. bombs made a
direct hit on a hospital [Ladywell] and some 50
nurses dressed in only flimsy night attire carried
200 patients to safety.   The only fatality was a
Fireman - Hedley Harding who died at his post when
the first H.E. bomb exploded nearby.   Damage was
done to the Nurses Home, the Administrative Block
and the Semi-isolation Block.   Half a dozen
nurses formed a water chain and quickly quelled
the fires which broke out when a "Molotov
Breadbasket" dropped in the grounds of another
hospital.

[N.B.  A Molotov Breadbasket was an open sided
container that held 36 x 1kg Thermite Incendiary
Bombs.  They were dropped from the bomber aircraft
and were meant to open allowing the 36 bombs to
spill out and with their flat noses spread out
over a wider area.  Sometimes these Breadbaskets
did not open, in consequence all 36 bombs fell in
the one place.

His widow - Beatrice Harding married Alexander M.
Kelly in 1951.