Edgar
Percival (Val) Haddock was born on 26th February 1897 at Kirkstall,
the eldest of three children (all sons) born to Edgar Augustus Haddock
(professor of music) and Hilda Haddock. The 1911 Census records Val as
a 14-year-old schoolboy at Oatlands School in Harrogate; his only
surviving brother, George Marston, was boarding with his parents at
York Road in Harrogate. Val was later educated at Charterhouse School
though he was there for only six quarters (terms).
Val was employed as a motor engineer's apprentice at Kearby when he enlisted into the Royal Engineers on 21st May 1915 and was posted to its Northern Signal Company. He was promoted from sapper to lance corporal on 27th July, and further promoted to corporal on 21st August.
Tragedy struck on 4th August 1916 when the company, then stationed at Welford in Northamptonshire, were engaged on telegraph wire work on the road near Thornby. Val fell while attempting to board a moving motor transport lorry, and was thought to have been hit by the hub of a rear wheel. His comrades improvised a ladder as a stretcher and brought him to Northampton General Hospital where he died of serious internal injuries and shock at 2pm.
Val was buried four days later in a private vault at Leeds (Lawnswood) Cemetery. The coffin, draped with a Union flag, was conveyed to the cemetery on an 18-pounder gun carriage. The burial was attended by troops of the Royal Field Artillery, including a bearer party and a firing party.
Val's younger brother, George Marston Haddock, would, like his father, become Principal of the Leeds College of Music.