page_title: F. Digby Hardy
section_title: Early years
hierarchical_section_title: F. Digby Hardy / Early years
caption_attribution_description: William Christie, from an old engraving
context_page_description: John Henry Gooding, alias Frank Digby Hardy was an English naval writer, journalist, soldier, career criminal and would-be spy during the Irish War of Independence. Born in Devonport, Plymouth to a middle-class family, he was educated in London before gaining notoriety in his native Devon as a bigamist and a cheque forger. Imprisoned numerous times throughout his life, he was enlisted by British intelligence to capture Irish Republican Army leader Michael Collins in 1920.
context_section_description: Hardy was born John Henry Gooding on 5 April 1868 in Devonport, the only son of John Rowcliffe Gooding (1837–1908) and Elizabeth Ann Furzeland (1849–1875), although he would later have four half-siblings through his father's remarriage in 1877. His father, a longtime employee of the Royal Navy, enlisted Hardy at the Royal Hospital School, Greenwich, essentially a place of education for children of naval servicemen. The school recommended him to The Royal Observatory, Greenwich in 1883 and he worked under William Christie as a computer until his resignation and return to Devonport in 1884. There he married his first wife, Eliza Ann Willcocks (1865–1954) in 1885 and fathered four children with her. In 1886, he experienced his first term in prison; six weeks for forgery whilst working as a clerk in a store serving Devonport Dockyard. He was granted leniency as he had a young wife and child.
  Joining the Royal Navy in October 1886 as a writer, Hardy maintained an excellent service record until his desertion on 5 July 1888 after misappropriating ship funds. He spent fifty-nine days in the naval prison at Bodmin Gaol, Cornwall before returning to Devonport. Once back, he applied to join the Theatre Royal in Plymouth in 1890, but the attempt was in vain. He sought solace in petty crime and was sentenced to time in Plymouth Prison for the theft of a bicycle and neglecting his family. His 1886 and 1890 stays in prison solicited testimonials from Christie, his old employer, and it was on his recommendation that he was able to join the navy in 1886.
caption: William Christie, 1900.
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