Roll of Honour
Lance Corporal Sidney Arthur Hopcraft
Service Number: 285557
Regiment: Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars
Conflict: World War One
Date of Death: 29th March 1917
Age at Death: 23
Burial/Memorial Location: Faubourg D'Amiens Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France
Address: Woodbine Cottage, Blackthorn.
Son of Walter & Hester Hopcraft, of Woodbine Cottage, Blackthorn.
"We now have received details of how Lance-Corpl. Sidney Hopcraft, son of Mr Walter Hopcraft, of Blackthorn, met his heroic death on the battlefield in France. They can best be described by the following letter from Evan Stone, one of his comrades, which goes as follows: “It is my duty to write these few lines to you. I expect you have heard by now that your son Sidney has been killed. It was an awful blow to me as we had been such close pals ever since we came out, and I found him one of the straightforwardest boys there were. One thing he never suffered, he did not live a minute after he was hit. I was only a yard from him when it struck him. We all send our deepest sympathy, and he was buried in a very large cemetery. Now I hope you are well, hoping you have heard before you get this letter.”
Major Fleming the officer commanding Lance-Corp. Hopcraft’s Squadron wrote to his parents as follows: “I very much regret to have to tell you that your son was killed in action last week. You have probably heard from the War Office of this sad news, but I feel that a letter from one who has known him as long as I have may be of some small consolation to you in your great sorrow.
Lance-Corporal Hopcraft was killed, I am glad to say, instantaneously. He suffered no pain whatever, and at the time the shell which killed him burst, he was doing, as he always did, his duty as a non-commissioned officer with all his might. Your son was a most promising soldier, absolutely trustworthy and reliable, painstaking and conscientious in all he undertook. In good times and bad he was always the same, cheerful, steady and efficient. I could not have wanted a better man, and his good qualities had earned him the respect and liking of all his comrades, officers and men. He will be greatly missed by all of us, and I hope you will allow me to express to you the deep sympathy of myself and all the officers in C Squadron in your sorrow.
Your son died, as so many young Englishmen of all classes, high and low, have done in this war, in the execution of his duty to his King and Country, and with his face to the enemy. I hope that this may be of some slight consolation to you in your great grief.”" Bicester Advertiser 13/04/1917