William Hackett was born 11 June 1873 to John and Harriet Hackett of Nottingham; he worked as a miner for 23 years in the Nottingham and Yorkshire coalfields, and was married to Alice. Hackett enlisted in the 254th Tunnelling Company, Corps of Royal Engineers, in October 1915, after being rejected three times by the York and Lancaster Regiment for being too old. He was 43 years old, and a Sapper in the British Army during the First World War when he performed a deed for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross on 22 June/23 June 1916 at Shaftesbury Avenue Mine, near Givenchy-lès-la-Bassée, France

Citation

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, the chances against him, deliberately gave his life for his comrade".

The London Gazette, dated 4 August 1916

William Hackett VC  Memorial.

On Saturday 19^th June, 2010, two members of the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Victoria Cross Committee attended the unveiling of the new William Hackett VC memorial at Givenchy-les-la-Bassee.

Mr Derek Price, Tony Higton, and Tony’s wife Mavis, were greeted by the Mayor of Givenchy, Monsieur Jacques Herbaut, at the Village Hall. The Mayor was presented with a Scroll of Honour from the Nottingham Castle Victoria Cross Memorial project which also honoured William Hackett.

The William Hackett memorial was located on the same site as the memorial to the 55^th West Lancashire Division. It faced the fields in which the tunnel had been excavated. The memorial has a T shaped slot which, when looked through, focuses on the position of the shaft to the tunnel where William Hackett chose to remain with his comrade in arms. A line of red flags had been set out to illustrate the actual spot where the remains of William Hackett lie.

The Royal Engineers from Nottingham provided the honour guard for the parade and the Band.  

Tony, Chris & Derek on a western front visit on Oct 22nd 2010 at the Tunnellers memorial, remembering William Hackett VC