William Hackett

William Hackett VC

William Hackett was born on 11 June 1873 at Sneinton, Nottingham. He worked underground for more than twenty years, becoming an experienced coal miner and tunneller. After being rejected three times by the York and Lancaster Regiment because of his age, he enlisted in the Royal Engineers on 25 October 1915. Following brief training at Chatham, he served first with 172nd Tunnelling Company and then with 254th Tunnelling Company on the Western Front.

In the early hours of 22 June 1916, Hackett and four other men were working approximately 35 feet underground in a gallery leading from the Shaftesbury Shaft near Givenchy-lès-la-Bassée, France. At 2:50 a.m., the explosion of a powerful German mine, known as the Red Dragon Mine, brought down approximately 25 feet of the gallery and trapped the five men.

A rescue party began digging through the fallen earth and shattered timbers. After prolonged work, a small opening was made and contact established with the trapped men. Hackett helped three of his comrades through the opening. Although he could easily have followed them, he refused to abandon the fourth man, 22-year-old Private Thomas Collins of the 14th Battalion, Welsh Regiment, who had been seriously injured.

As the opening steadily closed, Hackett reportedly declared:

“I am a tunneller, I must look after the others first.”

Despite knowing the extreme danger posed by the shifting earth, Hackett remained beside Collins. The gallery eventually collapsed again, permanently entombing both men. Rescue parties continued their efforts for four days but were unable to reach them. Their bodies remain beneath the fields near Givenchy.

Hackett’s Victoria Cross was announced in the London Gazette on 4 August 1916:

“For most conspicuous bravery when entombed with four others in a gallery owing to the explosion of an enemy mine. After working for 20 hours, a hole was made through fallen earth and broken timber, and the outside party was met. Sapper Hackett helped three of the men through the hole and could easily have followed, but refused to leave the fourth, who had been seriously injured, saying, ‘I am a tunneller, I must look after the others first.’ Meantime, the hole was getting smaller, yet he still refused to leave his injured comrade. Finally, the gallery collapsed, and though the rescue party worked desperately for four days the attempt to reach the two men failed. Sapper Hackett, well knowing the nature of sliding earth and the chances against him, deliberately gave his life for his comrade.”

Field Marshal Sir Evelyn Wood VC reportedly described Hackett’s courage as “the most divine-like act of self-sacrifice of which I have read.”

Hackett’s officially recorded date of death is 27 June 1916, corresponding approximately with the conclusion of the four-day rescue effort. It should not be stated definitively that he died on 23 June because the precise time of death cannot be established. Collins is officially recorded as having died on 22 June and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, although he was known to have survived the initial explosion and remained alive while the rescue was underway.

Hackett’s widow, Alice, received £67 collected by the officers and men of his company. She banked most of the money for the education of their children, Arthur and Mary. On 29 November 1916, King George V presented Hackett’s posthumous Victoria Cross to Alice at Buckingham Palace. She later received a pension of one guinea per week and married Harry Flinders in 1919.

Sapper William Hackett was 43 years old. Having no known grave, he is commemorated on Panel 1 of the Ploegsteert Memorial to the Missing in Belgium. His Victoria Cross is held by the Royal Engineers Museum at Chatham. The whereabouts of his campaign medals are unknown. He was the only First World War tunneller awarded the Victoria Cross. The Gazette⁠, Tunnellers Memorial⁠, Nottinghamshire Roll of Honour⁠