Cemetery Study: Auberchicourt British Cemetery
A study of burials
of West Yorkshire Regiment soldiers of the Territorial Force
The village was occupied by
Commonwealth troops in October 1918.
The cemetery was begun at the end
of that month and used until February 1919 while the 6th, 23rd and 1st Canadian
Casualty Clearing Stations were in the neighbourhood. These original graves are
in Plot I, but the cemetery was enlarged after the Armistice when graves
(mainly of 1918-19, but also of August 1914) were brought in from the surrounding
battlefields and from smaller, scattered burial grounds.
Auberchicourt British Cemetery
contains 288 Commonwealth burials and commemorations of the First World War.
Nineteen of the burials are unidentified and a special memorial is erected to
one soldier from the United Kingdom who is known to be buried among them.[i]
The scope of this study is limited to the Warrant Officer,
Non-commissioned officers and Soldiers who served with the West Yorkshire
Regiment, and are now buried in the cemetery, of which, there are twenty-three.
All of the men served either with the 1/5th
Battalion, or the 1/7th (Leeds Rifles) Battalion of the regiment,
and the two battalions both belonged to 146th Infantry Brigade, 49th
(West Riding) Division of the British Army’s Territorial Force.[ii]
With only two exceptions, both from 1/5th
Battalion, all of the men died as a result of wounds sustained in the attack
made by 146th Bde on the Presau to Valenciennes Road during early
morning of 1st November 1918. At 0515, the brigade, which was little
bigger than the established size of a single battalion, launched an attack on
enemy positions, with 1/7th Battalion in support of the 1/5th,
from positions near Famars. The War Diary of the 1/5th Battalion
notes the significance of Famars to the regiment, as it was here, in 1793 that
the predecessor to the West Yorkshire Regiment won the right to use the French
march ‘Ca Ira’ as their regimental march.[iii]
As might have been expected for a battalion in a supporting
role, the Leeds Rifles suffered only light casualties, however the attacking
1/5th Battalion sustained approximately 25% casualties, killed,
wounded and missing.[iv] [v]
The majority of the men, twenty in all, were originally
buried close to the position of the Forward Regimental Aid Posts set up by
battalions in the brigade.[vi]
It is situated in a field to the east of Aulnoy, and is bordered on two sides
by the Rue de Saultain and Rue de Préseau. This burial ground was given the
name ‘Aulnoy Sunken Road Cemetery’, but it was cleared and the burials made
there were concentrated into Auberchicourt British Cemetery in April 1920.
Private Walter Kingswood’s body was recovered from the
roadside on the road between Avesnes-le-Sec and Noyelles-sur-Selle, where he
had been killed in action on 12th October.[vii]
His battalion’s objective for that day had been the line of a light railway
which ran roughly north to south.[viii]
Private Kingswood was found some 200m to the east of this line, and as there
were no medical units, or aid posts in this position at the time, it must be
assumed that his body was left on the battlefield to be temporarily buried
where he had been killed.
Private James Phillips died on 2nd December 1918,
and was initially buried at a location south of Lallaing, near Douai.[ix]
It is not possible to say where Serjeant John McQuade DCM
was first buried, as although he is known to be buried in Auberchicourt British
Cemetery, the exact location is unknown, and there is no concentration record
extant for him. It does, however, seem likely that he was first buried with the
other men at the Regimental Aid Post position.
The men of the 1/5th
Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment
62864 Private Wilfred Archer,
The birth of Wilfred Archer was registered (the registrar
misspelled his name as Wilfrid) in Wigton, in Cumberland in the first quarter
of 1900. He was born in Silloth, Cumberland, one of eleven children to William
and Jane Archer. William was a bricklayer, and the family lived at 39 Solway
Street, Silloth.
Wilfred Archer was conscripted into the Army, initially
serving in the King’s Liverpool Regiment, with the number 59948.[x]
He was transferred to the West Yorkshire Regiment prior to any operational
service.
He is also commemorated on the War Memorial at Silloth in
Cumbria.
Wilfred Archer was 18 years old.
22476 Private John William Brogden
John William Brogden was born in Hartley Street, Leeds in
1891. He was the son of John Edward Brogden, a fire clay worker, producing
drainage and sewerage pipes, and Margaret, his wife. He was one of 12 children
born to the couple; however, two of those children had died before 1911.[xi]
John William Brogden married Beatrice Kirk on 10th
September 1910, at St Mary’s Church, Beeston, in Leeds. He was a 19 year old
Brickyard Labourer, and Beatrice was a 21 year old spinster. The couple lived
with the Brogden family at Islington Farm, Elland Road, Leeds.[xii]
John William Brogden is listed in the Leeds Roll of Honour.[xiii]
John Brogden was 27 years old.
62580 Private William Buck
William Buck was the youngest son of George Thomas and Eliza
Ellen Buck. He had seven older siblings, one brother and six sisters. George Buck
was a Clerk.[xiv]
William was born in Lambeth, London, in 1899.[xv]
His brother, George Edward Buck served with the Royal Navy
and Royal Air Force during the Great War.[xvi]
[xvii]
George Buck survived the war.
William Buck enlisted into the Royal Field Artillery at the
recruiting office in East Dulwich on 20th April 1915. He was
attached to A Battery, 167th (Camberwell) Brigade RFA as a Driver.
William had declared his age to be 19 years at his enlistment, but his true age
was a little over 16 years. Once the Army discovered that he was underage, it
took steps to secure his discharge under paragraph 392, clause 6 (a), of King’s
Regulations, in that he ‘having made a mis-statement as to age on enlistment’
and being a ‘soldier under 17 years of age at date of application for
discharge’ was ineligible to serve in the Army. [xviii]
Paragraph 392, clause 6 is specific in that the discharge
process was processed due to an application being received from the soldier’s
parents.[xix]
William Buck was sent home in December 1915 from Bulford Camp, near Salisbury.
William Buck had declared himself to be a packer when he
enlisted, and presumably, he went back to this employment until he was
conscripted into the Army. As a conscript, he would have had no choice as to
which regiment or corps of the army he was sent to, and it was common to see
men in the county regiments who had no connection at all to that particular
regiment’s traditional recruiting area.
William Buck was 19 Years old.
54092 Private Arthur George Childs
Arthur Childs was another young Londoner serving in the
battalion. He was born in Tottenham, North London in 1899.[xx]
He was one of seven children born to the marriage of Henry Edward Childs, and
his wife Charlotte. Henry was employed as an electrician.[xxi]
Arthur Childs worked as a Grocer’s Assistant before his
conscription into the army.
After a medical examination on 29th September
1917, Arthur Childs was enlisted on 5th October 1917, into the 97th
Training Reserve Battalion at Aldershot, Hampshire. After passing his recruit
training, he was posted to the 51st (Graduated) Battalion, Royal
Sussex Regiment, at Colchester, before being transferred to the 51st
(Graduated) Battalion, Devon Regiment.
He was sent to ‘J’ Infantry Base Depot at Rouen on 30th
April 1918, and upon arrival, was immediately transferred to the 1/5th
Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment.[xxii]
Arthur Childs was 19 years old.
63006 Private Robert Flynn
Robert William Flynn was born in Liverpool on 13th
September 1899. He was the son of Michael Flynn, a hotel porter, and his wife
Mary.[xxiii]
The Flynn family were Roman Catholic, and Robert was baptised into the church
at St Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church, Grosvenor Street, Liverpool.[xxiv]
Robert Flynn was conscripted into the 53rd (Young
Soldiers) Battalion, the Manchester Regiment, and then was posted to the 51st
(Graduated) Battalion of the same regiment at Kinmel Park in North Wales.[xxv]
Robert Flynn is also commemorated on the panels of the
Liverpool Roll of Honour for the Great War, at Liverpool Town Hall.
Robert Flynn was 19 Years old.
62884 Private James Hadfield
James Hadfield was born in Chorlton in Manchester in 1900.[xxvi]
He was the elder of two sons of James and Mary Hadfield. The couple also had
three daughters, who were older than their sons. James senior worked for the
corporation sewerage department as a labourer. The family lived at 59 Wellesley
Street, West Gorton, Manchester.[xxvii]
James Hadfield was 18 years old.
57780 Private Edward William Ireson
Edward Ireson was born in Woolwich, London, in 1881. He was
the son of Samuel Ireson, but it has not been possible to identify his mother.
Edward Ireson married Elizabeth Harriett Diplock at the church of St Paul in
Deptford, London, on 26th April 1903. He gave his profession as that
of a horse dealer, the same as his father.[xxviii]
Edward and Elizabeth’s first child, Elizabeth, was born in
Deptford in May 1905, but by the time their second child, Lily was born in
1907, they had moved north to Durham. A further two children, Violet and Emily,
were born in Durham, in 1910 and 1912, followed by two more children, born in Gateshead,
William in 1914, and Albert in 1916. At this time the family was living at 44
Old Fold Road in Gateshead.
A Group System recruit, Edward Ireson was attested for the army in
Gateshead in December 1915, and immediately placed on the Reserve. He was
mobilized for service on 9th August 1917, and posted to 81 Training
Battalion the following day. After Training he was posted to 3rd
(Reserve) Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment, which was stationed at Whitley
Bay and formed part of the Tyne Garrison.
In June 1918, Edward Ireson was sent to France, Joining ‘E’
Infantry Training Depot, at Etaples, on the Channel Coast, leaving to join 2/5th
Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment on 5th July 1918.
He was in action within a fortnight, when his battalion
attacked at Marfaux, during the Second Battle of the Marne. His battalion
suffered many casualties, and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery
at Marfaux contains more than 100 of his battalion who were killed there.
Edward Ireson was wounded in the shelling in that attack on 21st
July 1918. He was retrieved from the battlefield and taken to 1/2nd
Highland Field Ambulance (51st Highland Division was also in action
near Marfaux). He is described as a ‘Gas Shell poisoning’ case. From the field
ambulance, he was moved to 48 Casualty Clearing Station at Montigny, and then
on to 11 Stationary Hospital at Rouen before his final hospital destination of
72 General Hospital at Trouville. He was released to 15 Convalescent Depot,
also at Trouville, on 20th August 1918. He went back to ‘E’ Infantry
Training Depot at Etaples after his convalescence, and was kept there until 7th
October 1918.
The 2/5th Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment was
disbanded on 13th August 1918, so when Edward Ireson was posted out
of the depot at Etaples, he was posted to 1/5th Battalion West
Yorkshire Regiment. This meant a move from 185th Infantry Brigade,
62nd (2nd West Riding) Division, to 146th
Infantry Brigade, 49th (West Riding) Division. On 9th
October 1918, he arrived at his new battalion, and was sent into D Company.[xxix]
[xxx]
Edward Ireson was also commemorated on a memorial in St
James’s Church, Park Road, Gateshead, but the church is now demolished and the
memorial is thought to be lost.[xxxi]
Edward Ireson was 37 years old.
63032 Private Hugh Johnson
Hugh Johnson was one of ten children, of which, eight
survived, born to the marriage of Richard and Nancy Johnson of Nelson, in
Lancashire. His family was employed in the cotton cloth industry.[xxxii]
He was born in Nelson towards the end of 1899.[xxxiii]
One of Hugh’s brothers had emigrated from England to the
USA, where he was employed as a rubber worker in Naugatuck, Connecticut. Arthur
Johnson journeyed north to Toronto to enlist in the Canadian Army on 3rd
July 1917. He joined the 19th Infantry Battalion, also known as the
Central Ontario Regiment.
Arthur Johnson sailed to England on 19th February
1918 from Halifax, Nova Scotia, arriving in Liverpool on 4th March.
He then travelled to Witley Camp in Surrey, where the Canadians had established
a depot in 1916. After six weeks of further training and waiting, Arthur
Johnson was sent to France to the Canadian Corps Reinforcement Camp before
being moved on to the 19th Infantry Battalion.
He survived the war, and was sent back to Witley to await
demobilization and passage back to Canada. Repatriation was a frustrating
process for troops from across the Empire, and many had to wait months until
they could return home. As with other camps where troops were held awaiting
repatriation, there were disturbances and riots at Witley as the men protested
about the length of time it was taking to return them to Canada. Arthur Johnson
eventually sailed back to Canada from Liverpool on 9th August 1919.[xxxiv]
Hugh Johnson was 19 years old.
63652 Private Walter Kingswood
Walter Kingswood was born in Leeds in December 1877.[xxxv]
He was the son of Robert, a coal dealer, and Ellen, his wife.[xxxvi]
Walter Kingswood married Ada Crossley in Leeds Parish Church on 5th
December 1906. He was a 28 year old labourer and she was a 25 year old
spinster, both living in Bramley, Leeds.[xxxvii]
Walter and Ada Kingswood had four children, Maud (b. 1907),
Harry (b. 1908), Blanche (b. 1911) and Rowland (b. 1916). The family lived at
14 Arundel Mount, Roundhay Road, in Leeds. Walter was employed as a carter.
He attested voluntarily for the Army under the Group System on 8th
December 1915, but as he was a married man with children, he was not called for
mobilisation until 1st January 1918. He was sent to 3rd
Infantry Depot, and allocated the service number, 73576, and he stayed in
training until May 1918. When he joined his battalion on 24th May
1918, he was allocated a new service number; 63652.
Walter Kingswood was admitted to 1/2nd West
Riding Field Ambulance, suffering from impetigo, in July 1918, and while he
received treatment for the condition, he was passed through 132nd
and 133rd Field Ambulance before re-joining the battalion in early August
1918.
After Walter Kingswood was killed, his widow, Ada was
awarded a pension of £1/13/9 per week in respect of herself and the four
children.[xxxviii]
Walter Kingswood was 40 years old.
54163 Private Charles Martin Mascall
Charles Mascall was born in Hackney Wick, London, on 10th
March 1899.[xxxix]
He was the second child of five born to the marriage of Charles, a bricklayer,
and his wife, Emily Mascall.[xl]
The eldest child was a girl named Amy Emily (b. 1897), with the others being;
Henry George (b.1901), Albert (b. 1903) and Alice (B.1906). The family lived at
248 Wick Road at the time of the joint baptism of Amy and Charles on 2nd
April 1899, but by 1901 the family had moved to 1 Hedgers Grove, and they had
taken in a boarder by the name of Charles Platt who was a railway labourer.
In 1907, for unknown reasons, three of the children were
admitted to the Hackney Workhouse, where they stayed for three months before
being discharged to a children’s home in Brentford, in Essex.[xli]
The children had left the children’s home, and were back at Hackney Workhouse
at the time of the 1911 census. Charles and Henry were listed as scholars, but
14 year old Amy was training for domestic service.[xlii]
Charles Mascall attested for the Army on 19th
February 1917, and was called up for service as a conscript on 17th
April 1917. His address at the time was 56 Berkshire Road, Hackney, where he
lived with his mother. Charles Mascall was employed as a box cutter working in
cardboard.
He joined the 99th Training Reserve Battalion,
which had been formed out of 12th (Reserve) Bn, the Royal West Kents based in
Aldershot, but was further transferred to 253rd Infantry Battalion
on 1st September 1917. On 1st November 1917, he left
Aldershot and was transferred to the Royal Sussex Regiment’s 51st
(Graduated) Battalion, and then to the 51st (Graduated) Battalion of
the Devon Regiment based at Taverham Camp, near Norwich. Private Mascall was
claiming Separation Allowance for his mother at the rate of 9 shillings and
threepence per week.
Charles Mascall’s time to be sent out to France came on 30th
April 1918, when he was sent to J Infantry Base Depot, based at Rouen. Here he
was transferred a final time, to the 1/5th Battalion, the West
Yorkshire Regiment.
In the attack of 1st November 1918, Charles
Mascall was originally reported as wounded and missing, but his body was later
identified as being one of those buried in the small cemetery created by the
regimental aid posts after the battle.
Mrs Mascall received the notification of her son’s death in
action at her new address at 122 Mabley Street, Homerton, London.[xliii]
Charles Mascall was 19 years old.
200788 Sergeant John Cornelius
McQuade DCM
John McQuade was born in York in 1895.[xliv]
He was the son of John and Margaret McQuade who lived at Walmgate in York.
Along with John, there were another two brothers and four sisters. John McQuade
snr kept a restaurant and employed his sister in law, who also lived with the
family, there.
John Cornelius McQuade was an insurance clerk working for
the Royal Liver Friendly Society.[xlv]
John McQuade volunteered for the Army early in the war, and
was allocated the service number 2540. He enlisted at York, but was sent to the
5th (Reserve) Battalion, the West Yorkshire Regiment, which had
billets in the Beechwood Hotel in Harrogate. The main battalion, with those men
who were due to deploy on Foreign Service were stationed at Strensall, to the
east of York.[xlvi]
In February 1915, the battalions were re-designated in line with the remainder
of the Territorial Force. The main, Strensall based battalion, became the 1/5th
Battalion, while the 5th (Reserve) Battalion was numbered 2/5th,
with the other reserve being numbered 3/5th. The role of the 3/5th,
and initially the 2/5th battalions, was to provide drafts of men to
the 1/5th battalion, the front line battalion prior to the 2/5th
battalion deploying to the theatre of war. John McQuade went to France on 15th
October 1915 to join the 1/5th Battalion, which had been in France
and Belgium since the April of that year.[xlvii]
Initially located in Artois in France, the battalion had
been brought north and spent a lengthy period of the late 1915 operating along
the Yser Canal to the north of Ypres. When it wasn’t in the line, the 49th
(West Riding) Division, of which the battalion was a part rested in and around
Elverdinghe, with many of the men camped in the grounds of the chateau.[xlviii]
John McQuade does not appear in any of the published casualty
lists that appeared in the newspapers on an almost daily basis, so we may
assume that he was not wounded, and stayed with his battalion all the time from
his joining it with a draft of other men, all the way through to the time he
was killed, except for a period when he was attached to the 3rd
Entrenching Battalion.[xlix]
His service record has not survived.
Between the time of his arrival in Belgium, to the time of
his death, the 1/5th Battalion was involved in much hard fighting,
during which time the battalion lost many officers and men.
Nineteen days before his death, John McQuade had been in
action with his battalion near Cambrai. For his actions in mid-October earned
him a Distinguished Conduct Medal. While it is possible that he may have known
he had been recommended for an award, the DCM was not announced officially in
the London Gazette until after his death. The promulgation was published on 15th
April 1919, but the citation did not appear until 24th February
1920.
The citation for the Distinguished Conduct Medal is as
follows:
200788 Sjt. J. C. McQuade, 1/5th
Bn., W. York. R., T.F. (York).
For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty at Avesnes-le-Sec, from
11th/13th October, 1918, when acting as platoon
commander. When advancing, his left flank became exposed, but he made his dispositions
in the most successful manner, and sent messages to his company commander, which
were of the greatest assistance in clearing up the situation.
His courage and initiative were most marked.[l]
Although much space is given over to the actions of the
battalion at Avesnes-le-Sec between 11th – 13th October
1918, Sergeant McQuade’s part in the action is not mentioned in the unit War
Diary.
It appears that when Sergeant McQuade died, although he may
have been buried with other men at the Regimental Aid Post, and brought for
burial at Auberchicourt, whatever it was that initially identified his body was
lost as it was impossible to be certain where in the cemetery he is now buried
among those of his regiment who are unidentified. Because of this, he is now
commemorated by means of a Special Memorial in the easternmost corner of the
cemetery.
He is also commemorated on the War Memorial at St John’s
Church, Walmgate, York.
John McQuade DCM was 23 years old.
17/471 Private Fred Nichols
Fred Nichols was born in Leeds in 1897. He was the son of
William and Louisa Nichols of 71 Johnston Street, in Woodhouse, Leeds. William
Nichols was a Tinner in a sheet metal working factory, and in 1911, Fred was
working with his father as the errand boy for the tinning shop.[li]
Fred had a sister called Agnes, who
worked as a packer of patent medicines, and two brothers, Arthur, and Willie.
Arthur was an ironworker. It is likely that Fred, under the mentorship of his
father went on to become a Tinner himself.
Fred Nichols, originally enlisted into the 17th
Battalion of the West Yorkshire Regiment, as the prefix to his service number
suggests. This battalion was specially raised as a ‘Bantam’ battalion for men
who were fully fit for army service in every way except for their short
stature. Prior to the raising of the bantam battalions, men under the
regulation height of 5’ 3” were rejected by the Army. It was soon recognised
that these men could provide valuable service to the Army, indeed, in certain
occupations, such as mining, being a short man was a distinct advantage. Many men who joined the infantry as Bantams
were eventually ‘combed out’ into the Royal Engineers to become tunnelers, driving
mines under enemy lines.
That the Bantams made reliable soldiers, is borne out by the
fact that two Leeds men who had joined the West Yorkshire Regiment as Bantam
Soldiers went on to be awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest award for an act
of valour performed in the face of the enemy that the United Kingdom can award.
Private William Boynton Butler, of Hunslet, saved the lives of many men when he held on to
a Stokes Mortar projectile that was about to detonate, allowing the men to get
clear or take cover, before throwing it to a relatively safe area over the
parados of his trench. He suffered minor injuries as the bomb exploded, but no
one was killed by it.[lii]
Sergeant Albert Mountain, of Harehills, led a small party of
volunteers and acted as a rear-guard to allow his battalion to withdraw from a
threatened position. He and his men held off a numerically superior enemy
attack before his party re-joined the battalion. Later he held an isolated
flank position for 27 hours, beating of numerous attacks by the enemy.[liii]
It is worth noting that both men were also decorated for
their bravery by the French Government. Private Butler was awarded the French
Croix de Guerre, while Sgt Mountain received the Medaille Militaire.
Fred Nichols was transferred to the 9th
Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment, a New Army battalion that had served in the
Gallipoli Campaign, before going to the 16th Battalion of the West
Yorkshire Regiment, this battalion being known as the 1st Bradford
Pals. Later he was transferred to the 1st Battalion, before
eventually being transferred to the 1/5th Battalion, with which he
was serving when he was killed.[liv]
Fred Nichols was 21 years old.
40285 Private Fred Oakes
Fred Oakes was born in Halifax in 1885. He was the son of
Frederick and Alice Oakes. Frederick worked for his local corporation as a
scavenger, in other words, a street cleaner.
Young Fred found employment in Halifax’s textiles industry as a silk
dresser.[lv]
He married Ada Earnshaw at St Thomas’s Church in Charlestown
on 8th October 1905[lvi],
and the couple went on to have three sons together, Ernest (b. 1906), Alfred
(b. 1907), and Lewis (b. 1910)[lvii].
At least one of Fred’s brothers served in the Army during
the Great War. John Thomas Oakes was conscripted in to the 2/6th
Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment, being attested on 17th February
1916 before being transferred to the reserve to await his mobilization, which
came in the October of the same year.
On mobilization, he was sent to 88th Territorial
Force Depot before his progression to 5th (Reserve) Battalion, West
Yorkshire Regiment. A further transfer saw him sent to the Labour Corps, and
then on to the Buffs, the East Kent Regiment. In November 1917, John Oakes was
wounded in the hand, but he went on to survive the war and return home to his
wife and children[lviii].
Fred Oakes was 33 years old.
76820 Private James Phillips
James Phillips was born in the Kirkdale district of
Liverpool in 1890. His parents were John and Winifred Phillips, who were both
Welsh. John Phillips was a shipping agent’s clerk from Denbighshire[lix].
James Phillips was the fourth of five children to John and
Winifred in a family of two daughters and three sons.
By 1901, the family had moved to Ireland, presumably to
enable his father to take promotion at work. He was now employed as a
commercial agent and lived at 33, Patrick Street, Limerick[lx].
James Phillips became a jeweller, and in the 1911 census, he
appears listed as a lodger in a boarding house in Bridlington, East Yorkshire[lxi].
He married Margaret Nora Davies in Bridlington in early 1917[lxii].
There is no record of James Phillips being awarded the usual
service medals for his army service. The qualifying period for the British War
Medal and Victory Medal for service in the European war ended on 11th
November 1918, although the British War Medal continued to be awarded for
service in North Russia until 1920. The absence of James Phillips’ name from
the medal rolls means that he must have arrived in France after the end of the
Great War.
It must be remembered that although the Armistice brought an
end to the fighting of more than four years, the peace was fragile. Units in
the field were required to keep their strengths up to fighting establishments,
and reinforcements continued to be sent out to France and Belgium.
James Phillips is recorded as dying from illness[lxiii].
He is also commemorated on the War Memorial at Bridlington.
James Phillips was 28 years old (the cemetery registers
states he was 30).
200819 Sergeant John William Smith
John William Smith was the only son of Edward and Jessie
Smith, who were publicans at the Black Swan Inn at Peasholme Green, York. He
was born in York in 1898, and had an older sister, Elizabeth (b. 1897), and a
younger one, Doris (b. 1902)[lxiv].
John Smith originally joined the 2/5th Battalion,
West Yorkshire Regiment, prior to the Territorial Force re-numbering exercise
of early 1917. He was given the service number of 2584, and because this number
appears on the documentation relating the award of John Smith’s medals, it is
certain that he served in France and Flanders before the renumbering exercise
which saw him receive the number 200819[lxv].
John William Smith is also commemorated on the War Memorial
at St Cuthbert’s Church, Peasholme Green, York.
John Smith was 21 years old.
1871 Company Sergeant Major William
Henry Wood
William Henry Wood was born in Leeds in 1883[lxvi].
He married Ethel Robinson in Leeds in late 1908[lxvii],
and the couple lived with Ethel’s family at 1 Harehills Place in Leeds. There,
the couple had their first child, a girl named Ethel Maud Eileen[lxviii],
born on 2nd June 1909[lxix].
At this time, William was working as a travelling salesman of smallware for the
clothing industry. He sold ribbons, braids and tapes to clothing manufacturers.[lxx]
William Wood was 34 years old.
The men of the 1/7th
Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment
54006 Rifleman Joseph Townend
Batesman
Joseph Batesman was born in Bolton, Lancashire in 1899. He
was the son of Joseph and Harriet Batesman, who had married in Wakefield in
1896. The family was completed with the births of a brother, George (b. 1905)
and sisters, Edith (B. 1909) and Sarah (b. 1911). The Bateson Family lived at 2
Bell Grove Terrace, Low Ackworth, near Pontefract, in Yorkshire.
Joseph Batesman was enlisted as a conscript on 11th
October 1917 and called up four days later. He reported for training at 53rd
(Young Soldiers) Battalion. After five months of training, and a move to 51st
(Graduated) Battalion, he was transferred to 3/5th Battalion, West
Yorkshire Regiment. His final transfer was to 1/7th (Leeds Rifles)
Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment, the battalion he was serving with at the
time of his death.
In civil life, Joseph Batesman had worked at a colliery
where he was employed as a filler.[lxxi]
Joseph Batesman was 19 years old.
54012 Rifleman George Henry Bolton
George Bolton was born in Wakefield on 22nd
September 1899.[lxxii]
He was the son of Alfred and Harriet Bolton of 16 Church Street, Thornes Lane,
Wakefield. Alfred and his two eldest sons, Tom and Walter, worked as carters.[lxxiii]
George Bolton was called up for service in October 1917. His
service number is only six digits removed from Joseph Batesman, and his
training history and army service matches that of Batesman so closely that it
is safe to assume that the two young men must have known each other, and may
well have been friends.
Only three months before he was conscripted into the Army,
George Bolton married Lilian Mary Chandler in Wakefield. Lilian Bolton lived at
41 Hilton Street, Westgate, Wakefield.[lxxiv]
George Bolton was 19 years old.
200751 Corporal William Alfred
Gatenby MM
William Alfred Gatenby was born in York in 1898. He was the
eldest of seven children born to the marriage of William and Amy Gatenby, who
lived at 19 Jackson Street, York. William senior was a stoker at a gas works in
York.[lxxv]
William Alfred Gatenby must have joined the army when he was
underage. He is recorded as going to France in April 1915, which would have
made him 17 years old at the time. He originally served with 1/5th
Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment, and it was with this battalion that he
embarked for France.[lxxvi]
He was awarded the Military Medal for bravery, and the award was announced in
the London Gazette which carried the very first awards of this medal. Although
the Military Medal was instituted on 25th March 1916, the first
awards are known to rewards acts of bravery dating back to the beginning of the
war.[lxxvii]
The details regarding the act of bravery William Gatenby was recommended and
rewarded for have not survived. It is known that William Gatenby was wounded,
and his name appeared in a casualty list reproduced in The Times newspaper on 10th
January 1916.[lxxviii]
William Alfred Gatenby MM was 20 years old.
62768 Rifleman Harold Meggitt
Harold Meggitt was born in Wakefield, on 23rd
October 1899. He was the son of Herbert and Ethel Meggitt. Herbert Meggitt was
a corn, straw and hay dealer.[lxxix]
Harold Meggitt was 18 years old.
62815 Rifleman Maurice Swann
Maurice Swann was born in Church Fenton, in North Yorkshire
on 31st October 1899. He was the son of Frank, a North Eastern
Railway Signalman, and Jane Swann. The family moved to Moss, near Doncaster.[lxxx]
Maurice Swann went to work as a Fitter’s Apprentice in a
colliery, and was called up as a conscript into 53rd (Young
Soldiers) Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment through the recruiting office in
Pontefract on 23rd November 1917. After his initial training in
England, he was sent to France, sailing from Folkestone to Boulogne, and joined
E Infantry Base Depot at Etaples on 22nd May 1918. Three days later,
he was posted to 1/7th (Leeds Rifles) Battalion, West Yorkshire
Regiment, joining the battalion on 28th May 1918.[lxxxi]
Maurice Swann was 19 years old.
54541 Lance Corporal David Thomas
David Thomas was born in Llangollen, in Denbighshire, in
North Wales, in 1885. He was the son of John Thomas, a Waggoner, who was a
widower by the time the 1891 census of Wales was taken. David Thomas had an
older sister, Margaret Elizabeth (b.1882). The Thomas family lived at 1, Conna
Row.[lxxxii]
David Thomas enlisted voluntarily into the Army in
Birkenhead, joining the Army Service Corps attached to the 38th
(Welsh) Division, as a horse drawn wagon driver. He was given the service
number T/4/249978. It is not known when, or why, David Thomas was transferred
to the West Yorkshire Regiment.[lxxxiii]
David Thomas was 33 years old.
62818 Rifleman Frank Harold Thompson
Frank Harold Thompson was the youngest of five children born
to the marriage of Robert and Anne Thompson. He was born in Ripon, in North
Yorkshire in 1899. Robert Thompson was a paint mixer at a varnish works.[lxxxiv]
Although Mr and Mrs Thompson had had five children, the next
of kin declaration form compiled and submitted by Mr Thompson in October 1919
showed that only two of their children, both daughters had survived. A brother,
Howard, had been killed in action during the Battle of the Somme on 18th
September 1916 serving with the 1st Battalion, the West Yorkshire
Regiment. He lies buried in the Guards Cemetery, at Lesboeufs.
Frank Thompson was conscripted in to the 53rd
(Young Soldiers) Battalion, the West Yorkshire Regiment. He attested in
Harrogate on 9th November 1917. Whilst with this battalion, and
subsequently, the 52nd (Graduated) Battalion, Frank Thompson had the
service number TR5/122143.
On 22nd May 1918, Frank Thompson sailed from
Folkestone to Boulogne, before travelling on to ‘E’ Infantry Base Depot at
Etaples, where he spent a little over a week before being sent to join his
battalion. He was posted to A Coy, 1/7th (Leeds Rifles) Battalion,
The West Yorkshire Regiment.
Frank Thompson contracted influenza, and on 28th
June 1918, he was sent to 109 Field Ambulance, via 1/2nd West Riding
Field Ambulance for treatment. After two weeks in hospital, he was returned to
his unit.[lxxxv]
Frank and Howard Thompson are both commemorated on the war
memorial at Ripon.
Frank Thompson was 19 years old.
[ii]
Order of Battle of Divisions, Part 2a, Becke, HMSO 1936
[iii]
War Diary, 1/5th Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment, WO95/2794/1
[iv]
War Diary, 1/5th Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment, WO95/2794/1
[v]
War Diary, 1/7th Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment, WO95/2795/1
[vi]
www.cwgc.org
[vii]
www.cwgc.org
[viii]
War Diary, 1/5th Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment, WO95/2794/1
[ix]
www.cwgc.org
[x]
Soldiers Died in the Great War
[xi]
1911 England Census – RG14/27184/27
[xii] West
Yorkshire Archive Service; Leeds, Yorkshire, England; Yorkshire Parish Records;
Reference Number: RDP9/3/1
[xiii]
Leeds in the Great War, Scott, Leeds Libraries and Arts Committee, 1923
[xiv]
1911 England Census – RG14/1782/10
[xv] Register
of Births – England 1899 Q1, St. Saviour 1d 78
[xvi] National
Archives - ADM 188/627/35203
[xvii]
National Archives - AIR 79/2116/235203
[xviii]
National Archives - WO 364/485
[xix]
King’s Regulations and Orders for the Army (reprinted with amendments), HMSO
1914
[xx]
Register of Births – England 1899 Q4, Edmonton 3a 380
[xxi]
1911 England Census – RG14/7328/201
[xxii]
Ancestry.com. British Army WWI Service Records, 1914-1920 [database on-line].
Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008.
[xxiii]
1901 England Census – RG13/3423/190/34
[xxiv]
Liverpool, Lancashire, England, Catholic Baptisms, 1802-1906
[xxv] Ancestry.com.
British Army WWI Service Records, 1914-1920 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA:
Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008.
[xxvi]
Register of Births – England 1900 Q1, Chorlton 8c 794
[xxvii]
1911 England Census – RG14/23794
[xxviii]
London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; Reference Number: p75/pau/058
[xxix]
Ancestry.com. British Army WWI Service Records, 1914-1920 [database on-line].
Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008.
[xxx] Order
of Battle of Divisions, Part 2a, Becke, HMSO 1936, & Part 2b, Becke, HMSO 1937
[xxxi]
http://www.newmp.org.uk/detail.php?contentId=7314
[xxxii]
1911 England Census – RG14/24899
[xxxiii]
Register of Births – England 1899 Q4, Burnley, 8e 240
[xxxiv]
Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF), RG 150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box 4851 - 3
[xxxv]
Register of Births – England - 1878 Q1, Leeds 9b 452
[xxxvi]
1911 England Census – RG14/26966
[xxxvii]
West Yorkshire, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1813-1935, RDP68/5/109
[xxxviii]
Ancestry.com. British Army WWI Service Records, 1914-1920 [database on-line].
Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008.
[xxxix]
London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; Board of Guardian Records,
1834-1906/Church of England Parish Registers, 1754-1906 - P79/AUG/01/003
[xl]
1901 England Census - RG13/233/23/37
[xli] London
Metropolitan Archives; London, England; Reference Number: HABG/310/003
[xlii]
1911 England Census - RG14/9824
[xliii]
Ancestry.com. British Army WWI Service Records, 1914-1920 [database on-line].
Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008.
[xliv]
Register of Births – England - 1895 Q2, York 9d 37
[xlv]
1911 England Census – RG14/28393
[xlvi]
Harrogate Terriers, Sheehan, Pen & Sword Military, Barnsley, 2017
[xlvii]
WO 329/2656
[xlviii]
War Diary, 1/5th Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment, WO 95/2794/1
[xlix]
WO 329/911
[l]
The London Gazette, 24 February 1920,
Supplement 31794, Page 2290
[li]
1911 England Census – RG14/27012
[lii]
London Gazette – Supplement 30338, 16 October 1917
[liii]
London Gazette – Supplement 30733, 4 June 1918
[liv]
WO 329/899
[lv]
1901 England Census – RG13/4137/30/5
[lvi]
Yorkshire Parish Records – WDP33/1/7
[lvii]
1911 England Census – RG14/26457
[lviii]
Ancestry.com. British Army WWI Service Records, 1914-1920 [database on-line].
Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008.
[lix]
1891 England Census – RG12/2961/55/6
[lx]www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Limerick/Dock_Limerick_Urban_No__4/Frederick_Street/1501548/
[lxi]
1911 England Census – RG14/28895
[lxii]
Register of Marriages – England - 1917 Q1, Bridlington 9d 483
[lxiii]
Ancestry.com. UK, Army Registers of Soldiers' Effects, 1901-1929 [database
on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014.
[lxiv]
1911 England Census – RG14/28408
[lxv]
WO 329/911
[lxvi]
Register of Births – England - 1883 Q4, Leeds 9b 478
[lxvii]
Register of Marriages – England - 1908 Q4, Leeds 9b 881
[lxviii]
1911 England Census - RG14/27110
[lxix]
Ancestry.com. UK, Army Registers of Soldiers' Effects, 1901-1929 [database
on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014.
[lxx]
1911 England Census - RG14/27110
[lxxi]
Ancestry.com. British Army WWI Service Records, 1914-1920 [database on-line].
Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008.
[lxxii]
Yorkshire Parish Records – WDP80/21
[lxxiii]
1911 England Census – RG14/27391
[lxxiv]
Ancestry.com. British Army WWI Service Records, 1914-1920 [database on-line].
Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008.
[lxxv]
1911 England Census – RG14/28402
[lxxvi]
WO 329/911
[lxxvii]
London Gazette 29608 pp 5591, 2nd June 1916
[lxxviii]
The Times, 10th January 1916
[lxxix]
1911 England Census – RG14/27380
[lxxx]
1911 England Census – RG14/28227
[lxxxi]
Ancestry.com. British Army WWI Service Records, 1914-1920 [database on-line].
Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008.
[lxxxii]
Census Returns of England and
Wales, 1891. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives of the UK (TNA):
Public Record Office (PRO), 1891.
[lxxxiii]
Ancestry.com. British Army WWI Service Records, 1914-1920 [database on-line].
Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008.
[lxxxiv]
1911 England Census - RG14/25854
[lxxxv]
Ancestry.com. British Army WWI Service Records, 1914-1920 [database on-line].
Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008.
All photos © Nigel Marshall
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