Family :

Education & Career :

Hubert Franklin Madders was admitted to King Edward’s School in September 1891.

At School, Hubert was a strong bowler for the 1st XI, taking three wickets for 9 runs against Warwick in 1897.

He also played as a “young and promising forward” in the 1st XV, who “always worked his hardest in the scrum…and showed great determination.”

Hubert was a strong academic too, placing third in the Second Class, taught personally by the Headmaster, Albert R. Vardy.

He went on to study at London University, living in a property owned by his father on Landsdowne Road, Kensington.

After graduating, he became a solicitor, operating in London, where he met his wife Kate (née Berkeley), whom he married on 16th April 1911 at St John the Evangelist Church, Ladbroke Grove. The couple lived at 87, Hampstead Way, London.

Service Life:

Campaigns:

• The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.

The Battle of the Somme 1st July - 18th November 1916 is inevitably characterised by the appalling casualties (60,000) on the first day, July 1st 1916. Having failed to break through the German lines in force, and also failed to maximise opportunities where success was achieved, the battle became a series of attritional assaults on well defended defence in depth. The battle continued officially until 18th November 1916 costing almost 500,000 British casualties. German casualties were about the same, and French about 200,000. The Somme could not be counted a success in terms of ground gained or the cost, but it had a strategic impact as it marked the start of the decline of the German Army. Never again would it be as effective whilst the British Army, learning from its experience eventually grew stronger to become a war winning army. The German High Command recognised that it could never again fight another Somme, a view that advanced the decision to invoke unrestricted submarine warfare in an attempt to starve Britain of food and material, and in doing so accelerated the United States declaration of war thus guaranteeing the eventual outcome. 287 Brethren were killed on the Somme in 1916.

Detail :

He was killed on 1st July 1916, aged thirty-five, on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, and is buried in Bouzincourt Communal Cemetery Extension, France.

He left his estate of £4,322 to his wife, who applied for his medals in 1920 and requested that the inscription on his headstone should read: “Whoso Takes The World’s Life On Him And His Own Lays Down…Lives.”

The Hubert Franklin Madders Bursary The fund was founded by Mrs Kate Madders in memory of her husband, the late Mr Hubert Franklin Madders, solicitor of the firm of Sharp, Pritchard & Co. of London, who was killed in action in 1916. In accordance with the terms of the trust, bursaries may be awarded to persons of good character who wish to be solicitors and are likely to become worthy members of the solicitors? profession and are in need of financial assistance in order to enable them to obtain and undertake or continue the necessary legal education and training and to be admitted as a solicitor.

Masonic :

Junior Deacon

Source :

The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:

• The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• The (UK) National Archives
• Ancestry.co.uk - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History online
• ugle.org.uk - The records of the United Grand Lodge of England including the Library and Museum of Freemasonry

Additional Source:

• Founder Researchers : Paul Masters & Mike McCarthy
• Researcher : Bruce Littley
• Website : KES Roll of Honour