The Leeds Rifles' own Holy Trinity

2453 Rifleman Henry Thackray.
2467 Rifleman Francis William Smith.
2490 Rifleman William Ewart Worsley.

Shortly after the British declaration of war in August 1914, three friends who were Theological students at the College of the Resurrection in Mirfield and had recently completed their first year at Leeds University decided to enlist into the Army. One of the ordinands, Henry Thackray, was best friends with another Theological student, Eric Chapman, who was also from Armley, like him. Eric Chapman had a brother, Oswald, who was a Serjeant in the 1/8^th (Leeds Rifles) Battalion, the West Yorkshire Regiment. Oswald Chapman would, in October 1915, marry Beatrice Thackray, the eldest sister of Henry. Thackray also had a cousin in the battalion, 132 L/Cpl Harry Thackray. Because of this Henry Thackray and his friends from Mirfield, Francis Smith, and William Worsley went to Carlton Barracks and enlisted into the Leeds Rifles on 6^th September 1914. Eric Chapman enlisted the following day, and he will feature separately in a future post in this blog.

 Of the three men who were studying at Mirfield, only Henry Thackray was from Leeds. He was born in Wortley, but had grown up in Armley, where his friendship with Eric Chapman had developed. Smith was the son of William Henry Smith, the head gardener at West Dean Gardens in Chichester, Sussex. He had come to Leeds to study for Holy Orders at Mirfield, and at the time of his enlistment, he was living in the College’s hostel at 21 Springfield Mount, in the University district of Leeds. Worsley was born in St Columb, Padstow, in Cornwall. He had begun his theological studies earlier than either Thackray or Smith, and in the 1911 Census, he was listed as a boarder at his college hostel in Westcote, Chipping Norton. Later in the year, he entered the College of the Resurrection at Mirfield.

 It isn’t recorded which company Thackray was sent to after his enlistment and embodiment, but Worsley and Smith served in D Company from 21^st September 1914. The men trained together and went to France with their battalion on 15^th April 1915 when the West Riding Division went to France on operational service. Until November 1915, all the men had had the same experience of what the battalion had gone through. Rifleman Henry Thackray was wounded on 11^th November while the battalion was in support positions on the canal bank behind the division’s front line between Brielen and La Belle Alliance, north of Ypres. He was evacuated to England, and on his release from hospital was transferred to 2/5^th Battalion, The Notts and Derby Regiment, which was based in Watford until April 1916, when it was moved to Dublin to supress the last efforts of the Irish Easter Rebellion and police the aftermath. The battalion then moved to the Curragh Camp where it stayed for the rest of the year training for it’s eventual move to France.

William Worsley and Francis Smith had both applied for commissions and were both successful. They left the battalion on the same day and were both commissioned on 22^nd November 1915. After commissioning, Worsley and Smith were both posted to 3/8^th Battalion before both returned to 1/8^th Battalion.

In her PhD thesis on the Leeds Rifles, Dr Pat Morris examined the relationships between the soldiers and their officers. She used Worsley and Smith as her examples of officers commissioned from the ranks and how the men responded to them. Over the course of many years, she interviewed former Riflemen and concluded that the newly commissioned 2^nd Lt Smith was highly regarded by his men. He was popular, capable and took great pains to look after their welfare in preference to his own. Conversely, 2^nd Lt Worsley was not well liked. His men thought he was aggressive and self-assertive, with a habit of excessive swearing. The men seemed to hate him, although Dr Morris was quick to point out that the officers who served with Worsley differed in their opinion of him.

Soon after re-joining the battalion as officers, both 2^nd Lt Smith and 2^nd Lt Worsley were decorated with the Military Cross for gallantry in action. On the night of 6^th/7^th February 1917, 2^nd LtSmith, who was now employed as the Battalion Intelligence Officer was out on patrol between the lines in front of Ransart, seven miles south of Arras in Northern France. With him was 2707 Lance Corporal Harold Moorby who was shot and severely wounded in the abdomen. Smith carried him back to the British line under brilliant moonlight and heavy rifle fire. Despite the best efforts of 2^nd Lt Smith, Harold Moorby died of his wounds and is now buried at Bellacourt Military Cemetery, Riviere. Smith had already come to the notice of his senior officers by leading a patrol which successfully broke up a German fighting patrol. The official citation, published in the London Gazette records his acts of bravery in its typical understated way as follows:

“For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. With a few men he dispersed a fighting patrol of the enemy. Later, he assisted to bring in a wounded man under heavy fire. He has at all times set a fine example of courage and determination.”

The Military Cross awarded to 2^nd Lt Worsley was awarded to recognise his actions at Fauquissart, 15 miles west of Lille, on the night of 25^th/26^th March 1917 during the relief of the 1/7^th Leeds Rifles by his battalion as the two battalions changed places within the brigade disposition. The relief was carried out under heavy enemy artillery fire which lasted until around 10:30 pm. At about 11:15 pm an enemy raiding party estimated to be 40 strong attempted to enter the 1/8^th Battalion’s front-line trench and attacked with grenades. The raid was repulsed by the Leeds men’s rifle fire, but not before two of the battalion were killed, including the particularly unfortunate 2^nd Lt Chadwick, who had only returned from a sniping course at XI Corps that day. The citation for 2^nd Lt Worsley focuses on his part in the defence of the British line in the face of this raid. It reads as follows:

“For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He handled his platoon with marked ability and succeeded in inflicting many casualties on an enemy raiding party. He has on many previous occasions done fine work.”

Both officers received the ribbons for their Military Crosses at a special parade in Merville on 24th April 1917 from the commander of XI Corps, Lieutenant General Sir Richard Haking KCB (later GBE KCB KCMG).

In May 1917, 2^nd Lt Smith was appointed as a 4^th Class Agent with the Intelligence Corps, although for the sake of security, the notification that appeared in the London Gazette simply stated that he was to be graded for purposes of pay as a Staff Lieutenant and was to be seconded. His Medal Index Card refers to him being attached to HQ I Corps Heavy Artillery. He held this staff position for the rest of the war and was granted the temporary rank of Captain whilst working as a Grade 3 Staff Officer. He was disembodied, a term peculiar to the Territorial Force meaning that he was no longer on active service, on 12^th March 1919.

In 1917 Smith had a collection of his poetry entitled ‘The Great Sacrifice’ published by Erskine MacDonald.

William Worsley left the battalion on 8th August 1917 suffering from the prolonged effects of gas poisoning. On 21^st July, the battalion had been in the line at Nieuwpoort, almost at the very uppermost point of the entire Western Front when the Germans began shelling the British positions. At first, it wasn’t realised that the bombardment was a mixture of high explosive and gas, and the British simply thought the lack of an explosion from the gas shells when they hit the ground meant the shell was a dud. When the gas was first detected, it was thought to be a weak variety as the initial effect was minimal, however, by midnight many of the men were sick and began to vomit, forcing them to remove their respirators, which further exposed them to the gas. The gas attacked the eyes, irritated the skin and gave the men uncontrollable vomiting and diarrhoea. During the following morning many men went blind.

With the exception of four officers and forty men, the entire battalion, a total of 18 officers and 662 men needed to be sent to hospital. Most of the officers and men returned to the battalion over the next few days, but 2^nd Lt Worsley was not among them. He was evacuated to Le Tréport, and then transferred by train to Boulogne and a hospital ship to the UK on 9^th August 1917.

It seems that 2^nd Lt Worsley’s health was so badly damaged that he was no longer fit to serve at the front, and he was transferred to the 7^th (Reserve) Battalion of the West Yorkshire Regiment at Rugeley on Cannock Chase in Staffordshire. In the summer of 1918, the battalion moved to Finner Camp, near Ballyshannon on the coast of County Donegal in Ireland.

Meanwhile, Henry Thackray had also applied for and been successful in obtaining a commission as an officer. On commissioning on 30^th October 1917, he returned to the West Yorkshire Regiment, although he didn’t return to the Territorial Force. Instead, after two and a half months in the 3^rd (Reserve) Battalion, he was posted to the 2^nd Battalion, a regular battalion, arriving on 15^th January 1918. The battalion was in the Passchendaele area, but was coming out of the line when he arrived, and he travelled back to Steenvoorde with it enjoy a rest and training period. The battalion spent the next month engaged in training, cleaning and repairing kit, and participating in sports, until orders were received to move south to Eterpigny, between Arras and Cambrai, where they were soon in action.

Between 22^nd March – 31^st March 1918, the battalion suffered heavy losses as the Germans launched their great Spring Offensive, and 2^nd Lt Thackray was wounded on 30^th March, but his wound must have been slight as he remained at duty. Though there is nothing in the War Diary regarding a further wound in April for 2^nd Lt Thackray, he was listed in a weekly casualty list, which means he must have been hurt seriously enough to have been admitted to hospital. His return to the battalion on 1^st September, an absence of more than four months, seems to confirm the seriousness of the wound he sustained.

On 4^th October, Henry Thackray left the battalion to attend a course at VIII Corps School, although it isn’t recorded what the course subject was. While he was away on his course, the Armistice came into effect, and by the time he returned on 14^th November, the main problem facing the battalion was the number of officers and men who were contracting the ‘flu bug and becoming ill.

With the fighting over, the three friends will have turned their thoughts to what was to come next. All of them returned to the College of the Resurrection at Mirfield to complete their studies for the priesthood, although Henry Thackray completed his BA at Leeds University before going back to Mirfield.

Francis Smith was ordained in 1920, William Worsley in 1921, and Henry Thackray in 1922, and once the friends qualified as Church of England Priests, their careers took them all in different directions.  

Francis Smith began his clerical career at the Church of King Cross in Halifax, where he was a priest from 1920 – 1922, at which time he left to take up a position in the Church of the Holy Redeemer in Sea Point, an area of Capetown in South Africa. It seems that while he had been a priest in Halifax, he had met Mary Robinson, who became his fiancée. Banns were read in the church for three Sundays in September 1925, as Mary was of that parish. In the tradition of the time, it was usual to marry in the parish where the bride lived (if the groom lived elsewhere), but there is no record a marriage taking place in England between them. The next move in Francis Smith’s career saw him become the Precentor of Capetown Cathedral in 1930, he was also Rector of St Michael and all angels Church in the Observatory district of Capetown. His final and most prestigious appointment in the Anglican Church of South Africa came when he was made the third Dean of St Cyprian’s Cathedral Church in Kimberley in 1941. He remained in this post until his retirement in 1953. Mrs Mary Smith, who had been active in her husband’s church, being President of the St Cyprian’s Women’s Association died on 21^st September 1949. He returned in 1959 to lay the foundation stone in the cathedral tower.

Due to the restrictions in place on South African records, it has not been possible to determine a date of death for Captain The Very Reverend Francis William Smith MC.

William Ewart Worsley MC was installed first as rector, and then as the vicar for the Church of St John with St Barnabas in Holbeck from 1921. He became a Chaplain to the Forces in 1924, renewing his affiliation with the Leeds Rifles, and in 1925 he moved to the Parish Church at Oulton. William Worsley married Gladys Flint in 1925. He was present at the unveiling of the War Memorial for Oulton and Woodlesford in 1926, leading the prayers at the ceremony. He then took over the parish of St Peter in Bramley, where he and Gladys stayed from 1931 until 1945. The couple moved away from Leeds to the parish of Farnborough with Avon Dassett in Warwickshire, meaning that William Worsley had to relinquish his appointment as Chaplain to the Leeds Rifles.

The Reverend William Ewart Worsley MC died on 6^th November 1950.

Henry Thackray was ordained from The College of the Resurrection in 1922, and went to the parish of St Lawrence in Northampton, where he was the vicar for four years before moving to a new parish in Grantham in 1926. He returned to Armley, in Leeds, to marry, fittingly for the son of an undertaker,  Margaret Williams, the daughter of a cemetery superintendent, at St Bartholomew’s church.

Staying in the Lincoln Diocese, he moved to be vicar of Barnetby-le-Wold in 1929, where it appears, he settled. In 1936 he became the General Secretary of the Diocesan Conference. He also took on the parish of Wragby in Lincolnshire in 1939, however he remained in the Vicarage of Barnetby-le-Wold.

The Reverend Henry Thackray died in 1965.

Of the other men mentioned, Harry Thackray was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal in 1916, and finished the war as a Serjeant. Eric Chapman was soon promoted to be Corporal but was shot and killed by a sniper in September 1915. He now lies buried in Essex Farm Cemetery, Boesinge, north of Ypres. Eric’s brother, Oswald Arthur Chapman went to France as a Serjeant, but was commissioned from the same cohort of candidates as William Worsley and Francis Smith, and ended the war as a Lieutenant. He lived for a time with the Thackray family in Athlone Terrace in Armley, before he and Beatrice moved to Hyde Terrace, which now forms a part of the University of Leeds.