George Clifford HARDING

Captain George Clifford Harding MRCVS was born in Shrewsbury on 10 June 1890. He qualified as a veterinary surgeon in London on 9 July 1914, less than a month before Britain entered the First World War.

Harding moved quickly from civilian professional life into military service. The London Gazette records his appointment as a temporary Lieutenant in the Army Veterinary Corps with effect from 6 November 1914. Existing medal and service research for this memorial places him in France from 2 December 1914 and associates him with the 14th Mobile Veterinary Section. He later attained the rank of Captain.

Harding survived the fighting but did not survive the aftermath of the war. He died at Church Stretton on 14 April 1919, aged only twenty-eight. The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons’ research into its war memorial lists him among veterinary surgeons who died from disease and records his burial at Church Stretton (Cunnery Road) Cemetery. The memorial’s earlier research identifies influenza as the cause of death; a primary death or contemporary obituary source is still being sought to confirm that specific diagnosis.

His name is also recorded on the Church Stretton war memorial. His death in April 1919 is a reminder that the human cost of wartime veterinary service continued after the Armistice.