George Hardman



Father of Christine Appleby, husband of May Hardman.

George met May when he worked as a bank teller, and they married in 1930, moving to No. 13 Coronation Street.

George briefly appeared in Coronation Street at War, written by Daran Little, set from 1939-1943. May had only become engaged to George in an attempt to spite her family, as she erroneously assumed his background (his father and brothers had worked in the pit) would cause her father to reject him. Instead her father praised George's initiative in wanting a better life.

After daughter Christine's birth in 1939, May informed George that they would no longer have intercourse. Soon after this, Britain entered the Second World War, and May and baby Christine were evacuated to Blackpool. Before George left for duty, he spent a few days alone in the house with May's sister Madge Mason. He was surprised at how much he enjoyed her company, and when returned for Christmas of that year, he and Madge became lovers. George planned to divorce May as soon as the war was over, to start a new life with May. George returned to Weatherfield for a visit in spring 1940, and was devastated to learn that Madge had been killed in an air raid. Ena Sharples handed George his love letters, which Madge had had in her front pocket when she'd been killed. George let Ena rent his home to Martha Longhurst and her family, and did not return until after the war.

In 1953, George decided the family could afford to move to a nicer area and they settled on a detached house in Oakhill, close to his new grocery shop. Two years later, George died and both the house and the shop had to be sold to pay off his debt. May and Christine were forced by circumstances to move back to Coronation Street and the house they had so proudly left behind. May was as devastated by the shame and material loss and as she was by George's death, and she kept to herself.