Lance Sergeant Joseph Hartley was born on the 5th May 1899 in Hunslett, Leeds. He was the husband Edith Hartley of 30, Cross Flats Grove, Leeds. He served with The Sherwood Foresters during the Great War. 

He was Mentioned in Dispatches on the 9th July 1919 and was awarded the Croix de Guerre (Belgium) Medal Militaire on the 24th October 1919. He died of natural causes on the 7th March 1963 at the age of 64 years.