Cemetery Study: Estaires Communal Cemetery and Extension

Estaires Communal Cemetery Extension

When the 49^th (West Riding) Division deployed to France, in April 1915, it took with it three Field Ambulance units of the Royal Army Medical Corps, designated 1^st/, 2^nd/, and 3^rd/ West Riding Field Ambulance. Two of the units were established in Leeds, while the other came from Sheffield.

By the time the West Riding Division moved into the area, the town of Estaires, in French Flanders, was already established as an ambulance town, and as a result, the men that those units were unsuccessful in saving had been buried in the town’s Communal Cemetery since November 1914.

Originally those burials were made in a vacant plot within the main part of the cemetery, but as the need for more space came, the decision was taken to create an extension to the cemetery by using a strip of land that had formed the north-western boundary. Although the town has expanded considerably since the Great War, the cemetery is still on the eastern edge of the town, and because of its position of the periphery of the town, some pre-war graves may still be found there, despite the town’s near destruction in the fighting here in 1918.

As well as the burials of the men from Regular Army and Territorial Force battalions of the West Yorkshire Regiment, the cemetery also contains the burials of two men of the Royal Welch Fusiliers who were executed in April 1915. Privates Troughton and Penn were both convicted of desertion.

During the Great War, four soldiers of the 49^th (West Riding) Division were executed, one was a soldier of 1/4^th Bn, King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, while the other three were all soldiers belonging to the York and Lancaster Regiment, one from 1/4^th Battalion, and two from 1/5^th Battalion. All the men were convicted of desertion. At least three of them had previous convictions for desertion, with one being under a suspended death sentence for a previous conviction for desertion. No soldier of the 62^nd (2^nd West Riding) Division was executed during the Great War. The four men who were executed were convicted of purely military crimes for which there was no equivalent in civil law, and after a campaign, which lasted decades, they were pardoned in the early 2000s. Because none of the executed soldiers was from the West Yorkshire Regiment, the executions in the 49^th Division are outside the scope of this blog and will not be the subject of a piece on it.

Another notable burial is of Brigadier General Sir John Edmond ‘Jonnie’ Gough VC, KCB, CMG. He was the son and nephew of two Victoria Cross recipients from the Indian Mutiny in the 1850s and the Gough family was a famous Victorian military clan. While there are instances of brothers being awarded the VC, and fathers and sons being awarded it, the Gough family is unique in having brothers, and a son/nephew all being awarded the VC.

Gough had been visiting his old battalion, 2^nd Rifle Brigade, when he was struck by a single bullet that was estimated to have been fired over a range of 1000 yards. The bullet is said to have ricocheted before it hit Gough in the abdomen. He was evacuated the 7 km from Fauquissart, where the shot occurred, to the field hospital in Estaires. He succumbed to the wound two days later.

Another poignant burial in the cemetery extension is that of Captain Laurel Cecil Francis Oldfield, an officer of the 12^th Battalion, the Rifle Brigade. He died of wounds received in the Battle of Loos and was buried at Estaires. Originally his grave was marked by a private memorial, and this may still be seen alongside his standard Commonwealth War Graves Commission grave marker. At the end of the row where Captain Oldfield is buried, among the burials in the communal cemetery, but as close as possible to where Captain Oldfield is buried, is the grave of his mother, Mrs Catherine Lilian Oldfield. The inscription on her grave tells of her desire to be buried close to her son’s grave. It reads as follows:

              Catherine Lillian Oldfield.

To The

Revered memory of my dear wife

Catherine Lillian Oldfield

of St. John, New Brunswick, Canada

who died in South France, November 14, 1921

She here rests near the grave, as she wished, of

our beloved soldier son, Captain L.C. Oldfield, 12th Rifle Brigade

who was killed at the Battle of Loos, September 25, 1915.

With Eternal Love, Gratitude and Veneration

I will remember while the light lasts

Though silent still my truest and best of companions

Leonidas Alcibiades Oldfield

Died at Winnipeg, Manitoba, 7th June 1929, aged 79 years

 

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission gives the following historical information about the cemetery:

Estaires town was occupied by French cavalry on the 15 October 1914, and passed at once into British hands. On the 10 April 1918 it was captured by the enemy, after an obstinate defence by the 50th (Northumbrian) Division; and it was finally retaken by British troops at the beginning of September 1918. The town was a Field Ambulance centre as early as November 1914, and later the 1st Australian Casualty Clearing Station was posted in it. It was later "adopted" by the County Borough of Plymouth. Estaires Communal Cemetery was used for British burials from the early days of November 1914 to June 1917, and two burials of September 1918 are in Plot II, Row P. Estaires Communal Cemetery Extension was used from April 1917 to April 1918, and again in September-November 1918. The Plots are numbered IV and V, in continuation of the numbering for the Communal Cemetery. The Portuguese graves of June-August 1917 and two French graves were removed after the Armistice. A German Plot of 63 graves, made on the North side during the enemy occupation in 1918, has been removed. There are a total of 875 Commonwealth burials of the 1914-1918 war here, 63 of which are unidentified. There are 9 Commonwealth burials of the 1939-45 War, killed during the withdrawal of the British Expeditionary Force to Dunkirk at the end of May 1940. There are also 14 Non Commonwealth burials in C.W.G.C. care. The five Plots cover an area of 3,336 square metres.

There are thirty-one West Yorkshire Regiment soldiers buried in the cemetery, of which sixteen are soldiers of the Territorial Force Battalions, including one officer, all of them in the cemetery extension.

Men of the 1/5^th Battalion

1306 Private Harold Victor Field, died on 27^th May 1915, aged 19.

Harold Field was the son of David and Ann Elizabeth Field, of 18 Flaxley Road in Selby. David was a Railway Signalman and Harold was employed at the shipyard in Selby as a Plate Worker. The family was completed by an additional three daughters and three sons.

Born in Barlby in 1895, he was a young soldier at the time of his death from wounds, but he was a veteran Territorial Force soldier of three years’ service, having enlisted in May 1912, at the age of 16.

An article in the Hull Daily Mail stated that he was the first territorial soldier from Selby to have been killed in the war. At the time of his death, Harold Field had been in France just six weeks. He had suffered wounds while on normal trench routine and been evacuated to the Field Ambulance at Estaires, where he died.

He is buried in Plot III, Row C, Grave 20.

 

1239 Lance Corporal George Ranson Thompson, died on 31^st May 1915, aged 32.

George Thompson was born in York in 1883. He was the son of Samuel and Mary Thompson. Samuel Thompson worked as an upholsterer. The Thompson family was a large one; there were three daughters, all older than George, and five sons, George being the second son. The family lived in Stanley Road, off Haxby Road, in the north of the city, close to where the workhouse was.

When George Thompson left school, he joined the Civil Service and went to work as a clerk for the Ordnance Survey.

He joined the 5^th Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment at York in March 1912, and when the battalion left Folkestone for France on 15^th April 1915, he had been appointed Lance Corporal.

George Thompson died just four days after Pte Harold Field, and like him, he was involved in normal trench holding routine when he was wounded and evacuated to Estaires, where he died.

He is buried in Plot III, Row D, Grave 13.

 

1986 Corporal George Elsworth, died on 20^th June 1915, aged 48.

George Elsworth was born at the Infantry Barracks in Sheffield in 1867. He was the son of Matthew Elsworth, a Labourer and former soldier with the 2^nd Battalion, 19^th Regiment of Foot, later the Green Howards, with which regiment, he had served for almost 21 years, eight and a half of them in India. David Elsworth’s record wasn’t without blemish; he was twice tried by court martial, and on one occasion was reduced back to Private from Sergeant, although he quickly gained promotion back to corporal before his discharge. George Elsworth’s mother was Mary.

In time, George Elsworth, too, joined the Army, when in February 1885, at the age of 19 he enlisted into the West Yorkshire Regiment at York. Posted to the 2^nd Battalion of the regiment, George Elsworth’s military service was not unlike his father’s. He served for six and half years in India and was also in trouble with the military authorities on a few occasions. His offences were for absence without leave, and once for drunkenness on duty. Like his father, George Elsworth also lost his rank, being reduced from Corporal to Private. He did not make Corporal again until his service with the 5^th Battalion in the Great War.

After almost 8 years’ service, George Elsworth transferred to the Army Reserve, but he signed up again in 1899 for service in the war in South Africa. For his service in the Boer War, he was awarded the Queen’s South Africa Medal with five clasps for, Orange Free State, Transvaal, Tugela Heights, Laing’s Nek and Relief of Ladysmith. He also received the King’s South Africa Medal with dated clasps for South Africa 1901 and 1902. On his return from South Africa, after some 17 years and 10 months’ full-time and reserve service, he left the Army and went to live in Harrogate with his father, who had retired to the North Yorkshire spa town after his army service and set himself up as a bath chair proprietor, catering for the many visitors to Harrogate’s spa attractions. George joined his father in business.

In September 1903, George Elsworth married Bell Bartindale Harrison, the daughter of a local photographer, at St Luke’s Church in Harrogate. The couple lived with George’s father at Nidd Vale. George’s father had been recently widowed, but within a month of his son’s marriage, he married as well, at the age of 74. It does not appear that George and Bell Elsworth had any children.

George Elsworth volunteered for service once more when war came in August 1914. He joined his local territorial unit at Strawberry Dale, along the street from his parents in law. As a seasoned soldier, he would have been a welcome addition to the Harrogate Company of the 5^th Battalion, and by the time the battalion embarked for France with the West Riding Division, he was restored to his former rank of corporal.

On 18^th June 1915, just two months after arriving in France, the battalion was involved in a tit-for-tat exchange of fire with the Germans facing their trenches. Initially, the West Yorkshiremen achieved some good results with the use of rifle grenades and a converted anti-aircraft gun that had been acquired from somewhere. Fifteen shells had hit the enemy trenches and silenced a German mortar. Inevitably, the Germans retaliated, and three men were hit. Corporal Joseph Cahill was killed instantly, and Private Edward Ramsey died of his wounds before being able to be evacuated back further to a field ambulance. Both men are buried at Le Trou Aid Post Cemetery at Fleurbaix, while Corporal George Elsworth did reach the field ambulance at Estaires, but he too died of his wounds.

After her husband’s death, Bell Elsworth moved back into her parents’ house on Strawberry Dale and continued to live there until her own death in 1935, having never remarried.

Corporal George Elsworth is buried in Plot III, Row D, Grave 9.

 

202804 Private Frank Barlow, died on 4^th July 1917, aged 28.

Frank Barlow was born at St Saviour’s Street, in the Chorlton-on-Medlock area of Manchester on 1^st December 1889. He was the son of a warehouseman, James Mills Barlow and his wife Elizabeth.

The family moved a short distance from St Saviour’s Street to Percival Street, which is now where the Schuster Building, part of Manchester University, stands. It appears that Frank Barlow did reasonably well at school, as when he left, he went on to work as an insurance agent for the London and Manchester Industrial Insurance Company. With a moderately well paid job, Frank Barlow was soon able to move out of the centre of Manchester, and when he married Annie Stubbings, at the age of 21, in 1910, they set up home at Hawke Street in Stalybridge, on the edge of the Pennine moors. Further progression in his insurance career allowed a further move to Huddersfield Road, in Millbrook.

Frank and Annie Barlow had two children. Frank was born in 1912, and Olive followed in 1915.

Frank Barlow volunteered for the army in February 1915, when he enlisted at Sunderland into the 3/1^st Northumbrian Division Cyclist Company. He was transferred to 63^rd Division Cyclist Company on 26^th February 1916, before a further move to 7^th (Reserve) Battalion, the Durham Light Infantry in July 1916. He was subsequently transferred to 1/7^th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, which he stayed with for just two weeks before his final move, before proceeding overseas, to 1/5^th Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment, arriving on 11^th September 1916.

He joined the battalion at Forceville while it was being held in Divisional Reserve and undergoing a period of completely retraining the soldiers in its ranks. Frank Barlow was one of about 220 other ranks drafted into the battalion to make good the losses it had suffered since the battle had begun on 1^stJuly. The soldiers had come from a variety of units, not all of which could be relied upon to maintain high standards of soldiering.

The 1/5^th Battalion was temporarily attached to 53^rd Infantry Brigade of 18^th Division, commanded by Major General Maxse for their attack on the Schwaben Redoubt on 28^th September. General Maxse had a reputation of being an innovative leader who relied heavily on getting the best out of the men under his command by ensuring they were thoroughly trained and well informed of what was to be expected of them. He expected high standards and good results in return. Having suffered badly in their action at Thiepval on 3^rd September, and incurring the displeasure of General Haig, the battalion must have been well pleased to learn that General Maxse reported that 1/5^th West Yorkshire Regiment had conducted itself with ‘great dash and gallantry’. Their actions with the 18^th Division helped to pave the way for the complete capture of the redoubt in October. Such was the performance of the battalion that a sizeable number of its officers and men were rewarded with gallantry awards.

Frank Barlow had come through the action at Schwaben Redoubt unscathed, but his introduction to warfare on the Western Front was swift and bloody; forty men died in the fighting on 28^th and 29^th September 1916, with almost half of them having no known grave. Several other men died from their wounds over the next three weeks. Some of the dead men were from the draft in which Frank Barlow had arrived at the battalion only two weeks previously.

After the battalion left the Thiepval sector, it required reinforcements totalling roughly half the established strength of the battalion, and these joined the battalion in small drafts throughout the remainder of the year.

Once the new men had been absorbed into their new companies in the reorganised battalion, the commanding officer, Lt Col Hugh Bousfield, set about training and testing the skills of his soldiers. By the end of February 1917, the battalion was readying itself to move away from the Somme after it had been in that sector since leaving the Boezinge Sector where it had spent the second half of 1915. It moved into the area around Laventie, where it had been immediately after arriving in France.

To ensure that he knew what his battalion was facing, Colonel Bousfield introduced a programme of patrols, and in many ways, the life of the battalion mirrored its previous existence in the sector almost two years before. Patrolling was a dangerous occupation, even when the terrain afforded cover, but the ground the 1/5^th Battalion would be patrolling over was flat and open. It was crossed with deep and wide ditches, which were more of a hindrance than an aid, and here and there, there were hedges that divided fields. If a patrol was caught out in the open when a flare went up, the men would stand out against the flat backdrop, even if they stood perfectly still. Patrolling, sniping and artillery fire all combined to make the Faquissart Sector a dangerous area, and the casualties suffered by the battalion steadily rose.

Frank Barlow died in Estaries from wounds on 4^th July 1917. His battalion had been in billets at Laventie since the end of June, but the War Diary mentions one officer and one other rank being wounded by enemy trench mortars the day before the battalion was relieved. It is possible that Frank Barlow was the other rank mentioned.

He is buried in Plot IV, Row C, Grave 7.

 

One Man of the 1/6^th Battalion

41449 Private Arnold Illingworth, died on 3^rd July 1917, aged 19

Arnold Illingworth was the son of a joiner, Fred Illingworth and his wife, Harriet, of Woodbine Terrace, Idle, in Bradford. Arnold was the younger of two sons in the family, with three sisters who were older than both boys. Another two children born to the family had died in infancy.

Albert Illingworth was conscripted into the army under terms of the 1916 Military Service Act, and was enlisted in August 1916 at the time of his 19^th birthday, although none of his attestation papers have survived, those men in the number scheme close to him whose papers have survived all appear to have been mobilised immediately.

Conscripted men, at this stage of the war, normally underwent a period of basic training of three months or so, before being sent off to their destination units. On arrival in France, soldiers destined for infantry regiments would go to one of the Infantry Base Depots to await being loaded onto a draft to reinforce a fighting battalion. Despite wearing one cap badge on their arrival, they would quite often be transferred to another regiment and be put on a draft to the new regiment, depending on the need of the fighting units up the line. Arnold Illingworth arrived in France as a West Yorkshire Regiment soldier and stayed with the regiment when he was drafted.

It isn’t known exactly when he arrived in France, or when he was sent to 1/6^th Battalion, but he was soon in action as his local newspaper, the Shipley Times and Express, reported on 16^th March 1917 that Arnold Illingworth had been wounded in the thigh and ankle, and was already in East Leeds War Hospital receiving treatment. The article also notes that his brother, William, had been killed while serving with the Northumberland Fusiliers the previous year.

William Illingworth served as a Private with 13^th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers, and died on 27^th April 1916 while serving on the Somme. He is buried in Dartmoor Cemetery, Becourt-Becordel.

Following his hospital treatment in Leeds, Arnold Illingworth was sent to Hovingham Hall Red Cross Hospital to convalesce. He was granted a period of leave prior to being sent back to his battalion, and he used it to visit his parents and friends in Idle. His former employer organised a collection in his favour and with the money raised, a luminous wristwatch was bought for him, and this was presented to him at an informal gathering at his employer’s mill. He left Idle to return to France on 17^th May 1917. It was to be his last visit home.

He was severely wounded in the chest on 3^rd July 1917 at Faquissart. Immediately evacuated to the Field Ambulance, it appeared that he was initially making good progress. An army chaplain, the reverend Walter Douglas Stedman, who’s wife was living with her parents in Thackley, Bradford while he was serving France, visited Arnold Illingworth in the hospital and reported that the young soldier was cheerfully chatting with him about home. He required further surgery, however, and it was during an operation at the hands of ‘one of the cleverest surgeons in France’ that he suffered internal bleeding that the surgeon could not stop, and Arnold Illingworth died on the operating table. Thus, the Illingworth family lost the second of their two sons. He had been a soldier for less than a year.

Arnold Illingworth is buried in Plot IV, Row G, Grave 7.

 

Men of the 1/7^th (Leeds Rifles) Battalion

3281 Rifleman Joseph Duncan Smith, died on 28^th May 1915, aged 41.

Joseph Smith was one of nine children of James and Mary Smith, who lived at 2 Accommodation Square, in the Burmantofts area of Leeds. James Smith was a brass moulder at the nearby foundry. Unusually, for a married mother of nine children, Mary Smith was also employed, and gave her occupation as a paper hanger, which given the intricate and artistic fashion for wallpaper of the time, would have been a very skilled job.

When Joseph Smith married Sarah Ann Marsh in July 1895, he gave his occupation as Teamer, which involved driving a team of horses in the haulage industry. The 1911 England census gives a further clue to his employment, as he is still recorded as being a Teamer, but he is also shown as being employed by Leeds Corporation Tramways department.

On the outbreak of war in August 1914, Joseph and Sarah Smith were the parents of seven surviving children. The decision to volunteer for the army cannot have been an easy one for him, but that decision may have helped along by the knowledge that the army would pay some relatively generous allowances to help his wife and children under the age of 14 in his absence. The system of allowances for separation was complex, but Mrs Smith would receive allowances of £3 and three shillings per week once her husband joined the army and was living in army accommodation. He might also choose to make allotment of his own pay to be sent to her as well.

Whatever Joseph Smith’s motives were for joining the Army, his service number is indicative of an enlistment in October or November 1914, and once he had completed the administrative elements of his enlistment, such as the paperwork and the issuing of his uniform and kit, he would have been sent off to the battalion’s war station to complete his training prior to departure for the front.

Joseph Smith completed his training in good time and sailed from Folkestone with the main body of his battalion on 15^th April 1915. He was with the battalion during its peripheral involvement in the Battle of Aubers Ridge. Joseph smith was wounded, like so many others, in the day-to-day business of normal trench routine. The battalion had gone into the line on 21^st May 1915 and remained there until 29^th May. Every day it was noted that the Germans spent some time shelling the trenches the Leeds Rifles were occupying, and although casualties were light, they became a regular feature of that rotation in the trenches. Joseph Smith was wounded during this period and he died of his wounds on 28^th May 1915.

He is buried in Plot III, Row D, Grave 11.

 

359 Colour Sergeant William Wilkinson, died on 19^th June 1915, aged 38.

William Wilkinson was born in Hilderthorpe, Bridlington in 1877, where his family lived in Oxford Terrace. He was one of five children born to the marriage of Walter and Sarah Wilkinson. Walter was a travelling linen agent selling the products of the companies he worked for to hotels and restaurants. When William was still very young, the family moved to Leeds and set up home in Woodbine Place, close to the General Infirmary. William followed his father into the linen and textiles trade and by the age of 24 was the manager of an embroidery factory. Eventually, William Wilkinson went into business with his brother, trading as agents for cloth manufacturers.

He enlisted into the Leeds Rifles in 1895, when the Leeds Rifles was a part of the old volunteer system, and continued to serve until his death, by which time he had twenty years’ service to his credit. Being in business in his own right would have afforded William Wilkinson a degree of freedom that might not otherwise be available to other part-time soldiers. Despite many of the employers in Leeds being sympathetic to those men they employed who were volunteers or territorials, they would still have put their own business need above those of Leeds Rifles. Therefore it is likely that William Wilkinson was able to devote more time to his part-time soldiering than some of his contemporaries, which is likely to have helped him gain promotions and qualifications that were available to men who could not spare as much time as he.

By the time war was declared, and the battalion went overseas, Colour Sergeant Wilkinson was a trusted subordinate to his company commander and may have filled the role of company sergeant major from time to time, when required. It is known that he was a very capable soldier, and illustration of that is found in a letter his company commander, Captain Salter wrote to Colour Sergeant Wilkinson’s widow after he was killed; "There had grown between us a greater bond of friendship than I can tell you of in words. Losing him out here has taken away from me a comrade I could trust anything to. "

Colour Sergeant William Wilkinson was killed in the trenches when he was speaking to Captain Redmayne, and the two men, through a momentary lapse of awareness presented a target to a German sniper. One shot was fired, and it hit Colour Sergeant Wilkinson in the head, passing through to wound Captain Redmayne. While Captain Redmayne survived, there was nothing that could be done to save Colour Sergeant Wilkinson.

He is buried in Plot III, Row D, Grave 8.

 

Second Lieutenant Balfour Halliday, died on 4^th July 1917, aged 29.

Balfour Halliday was born on 22^nd March 1887. He was the son of John and Jemima Alexandrina Halliday, and was one of seven children in the family which lived in Cheadle Hulme, Manchester. A keen sportsman, Balfour Halliday represented the town at lacrosse. He was also a member of the Church of England’s Men’s Society.

In July 1904 he went to work for Manchester & Liverpool District Banking Company as a junior at its Manchester head office. He was promoted to a clerkship there in 1909 and transferred to Stockport branch in 1910.

He joined the Territorial Force in 1911 when he enlisted into the Cheshire Yeomanry, and when war was declared, he volunteered for overseas service. He was offered a commission, but as this would have delayed his deployment to the front, he turned the opportunity down. He proceeded overseas with the Cheshire Yeomanry and had been promoted to sergeant. He fell ill with pyrexia and was sent home for treatment. While he was recovering from his illness, he applied for a commission, and on 25^th April 1917 he was appointed Second Lieutenant in the West Yorkshire Regiment, joining his battalion in France in June.

As with many of the casualties that were sustained by 146^th Brigade in July 1917, 2Lt Halliday was involved in normal trench holding routine in the right of the Fauquissart sector at the time of his death. The war diary for his battalion for 3^rd July 1917 gives only the briefest details; “1am – Intense hostile bombardment of our front line with trench mortars and guns of various calibres lasting for 1 ¼ hours and causing thirteen casualties (including one officer died of wounds)”.

He is buried in Plot IV, Row D, Grave 7.

 

Men of the 1/8^th (Leeds Rifles) Battalion

Of the first three men that the 1/8^th (Leeds Rifles) Battalion buried at Estaires, two were casualties of the Battle of Aubers Ridge. The 1^st West Riding Brigade, to which the 1/8^th battalion belonged to had orders to remain in their trenches and to provide covering fire for the troops on either side of them who were attacking enemy positions. German artillery returned fire, however, without very much effect.

The war diary for the battalion notes that seven men were killed by this fire, with a further ten wounded. Two of those wounded men died while being evacuated to hospital.

In fact, eleven men from the battalion died as a result of the actions on 9^th May 1915. Eight of the men are commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial, so it is likely that they are the men who were caught in a trench that was shelled and were buried in the debris from the blown in parapets.

Riflemen Akeroyd, Cooper and Fountain are buried together in Plot II, Row F, Grave 6.

1568 Rifleman Leonard Akeroyd, died on 9^th May 1915, aged 21.

Leonard Akeroyd was the only surviving child of William and Sarah Akeroyd, who lived at 9 Howden Grove, King’s Road, Burley, Leeds. His father was a Bricklayer.

Leonard Akeroyd worked as a house painter for the Walker Company based in Headingley, and in his spare time was a runner with St Mark’s Harriers, which was affiliated to St Mark’s Church in Woodhouse.

He enlisted at Carlton Barracks on 29^th October 1914 and had been in the army for six months when he died of his wounds.

Rifleman Akeroyd was one of the men mentioned in the war diary as being wounded on 7^th May when the battalion was garrisoning trenches in preparation for the coming battle of Aubers Ridge.

 

2795 Rifleman James Wallace Cooper, died on 9^th May 1915, aged 20.

James Wallace Cooper, known as Wallace, was born in Osgodby, near Selby in 1894. He was the elder of two sons of john and Betsy Cooper. John was a builder’s cart driver. The family came to live at 6 Providence Square, Moortown in the north of Leeds.

Wallace Cooper worked as a gardener after he left school. He enlisted into the Leeds Rifles in October 1914. His brother, Henry Douglas Cooper, enlisted in the Royal Marines on 9^th December 1914 and served with them in Egypt prior to his battalion coming France. He spent a period on attachment to 2^nd Field Company, Royal Engineers, before rejoining his battalion, with which he was killed in action on 23^rd October 1916 while serving on the Somme. He is buried in Knightsbridge Cemetery, Mesnil-Martinsart.

Wallace Cooper was among those wounded in the German shelling of British trenches during the Battle of Aubers Ridge.

2318 Rifleman Joe Fountain, died on 9^th May 1915, aged 20.

Joe Fountain, born in 1894, was the middle child of three for Joseph and Eliza Ann Fountain. He had an older sister, Elizabeth, and a younger brother, Fred. Joseph Fountain was a Wool Dyer, and his sons went to work in the silk spinning industry, Joe as a dresser, and Fred as a doffer. Joe would process the silk to make it colourfast, and Fred would tend to spinning frames, joining broken threads and changing pirns at the end of a cycle.

When was declared, both brothers enlisted into the West Yorkshire Regiment, with Fred going to the 2^nd Battalion, and Joe going to the Leeds Rifles. It seems that neither brother was drawn towards the local ‘Pals’ battalion being recruited in the city.

Joe Fountain suffered shrapnel wounds on the morning of 9^th May 1915 when German artillery shelled trenches occupied by the Leeds Rifles. His friend, the well-known footballer from Otley, Rifleman John Tindall, was killed by the same shell and his body was buried by the blown in parapet.

1669 Rifleman Albert Huffinley, died on 24^th May 1915, aged 19.

Albert Huffinley was born in Armley in Leeds in 1896. He was the second son of Lawrence and Elizabeth Huffinley, with and older brother, George, and a younger sister, Mary. Lawrene Huffinley died in 1912 at the age of 46.

Both of the Huffinley brothers followed their father, who was a gas purifier, into the industry. George took an apprenticeship as a tinner, and Albert went into the machine shop as a driller.

George Huffinley joined the 8^th Battalion, Leeds Rifles in April 1913, so it was probably natural for Albert to follow his brother when war was declared, and he enlisted in to the same battalion in August 1914.

Albert Huffingley’s death was briefly mentioned in the battalion war diary. It states: “Casualties: One killed returning from dugouts at Le Trou.” It would appear, however that Rifleman Huffingley was wounded rather than killed outright. There is a cemetery at Le Trou, where other men of the Brigade were buried when they were killed in incidents, while other men who were wounded, who later died from their wounds, are buried in Estaires.

He is buried in Plot III, Row C, Grave 21.

1564 Lance Corporal Harry Appleyard, died on 1^st June 1915, aged 20,

Harry Appleyard was the eldest of three sons born to the marriage of Frank and Clara Appleyard. He was born in Bramley in 1896, and the family lived in Rydall Terrace in Holbeck. Frank Appleyard was employed as qualified railway locomotive fireman, and Harry was an apprentice fitter.

Joining the Territorial Force in April 1913, at the minimum age of 17, Harry Appleyard was still a relatively young soldier when war came, and his battalion left for France. His seniors had seen his potential, however, and shortly after arriving in France, he was appointed Lance Corporal, with his promotion meaning that he was moved out of his original section and given responsibility in a new one. This was common practice in the army. It gave a man the chance to grow into his new rank and role among men who may not have known him quite as well as his previous contemporaries. It was also a useful tool in preventing accusations of favouritism and manipulation. It provided a man with a chance for a fresh start.

From war diary entries, it appears that Harry Appleyard was wounded on 27^th May 1915, when C Company of the battalion was in trenches improving defences. An order had come to the battalion that the work was to be carried out during daylight hours as this was considered to be less of a risk than it being done at night, but the war diarist’s tone does not reflect that this was universally popular, referring to it as an experiment.

A friend of Harry Appleyard’s, Rifleman Horace Boothroyd, described, in a letter home, how his friend had received the wounds from which he later died. It said: “Poor old Harry Appleyard died of wounds. He had been promoted lance-corporal and transferred to our section. We had got quite big friends. I had been on sentry duty all day and had just turned in and dozed off when I heard him drop. He had been on the top piling up the sandbags. He rolled into the dugout, having been hit in the thigh, the bullet going through and making a nasty wound at the back. He bore it like a man and held up champion. We carried him out. There were four of us, two stretcher bearers and two volunteers.

I saw him off in the ambulance and he seemed better and it came as a surprise to hear of his death. He was a very nice lad and we all liked him.”

Harry’s brother, Alan, was also employed as a fitter, until he joined the Royal Navy in 1917. Alan Appleyard served as a Leading Telegraphist until his own death, on 18^th January 1944. He is buried in a war grave in Hunslet Cemetery, in Leeds.

Harry Appleyard is buried in Plot III, Row D, Grave 12.

2811 Rifleman Charles Dawkins, died on 8^th June 1915, aged 18.

Charley Dawkins was born in Ardwick in Manchester in 1896 to Harry Dawkins, a coach painter, originally from Winchester, in Hampshire, and his wife Elizabeth who was originally from Bolton Abbey, in Wharfedale, near Ilkley, in Yorkshire. His father died when the family of seven children was still very young, and Mrs Dawkins moved them all back to Yorkshire, presumably to be closer to her own family and have their support.

Charley Dawkins enlisted in the Leeds Rifles on 29^th October 1914, leaving his job at Park Lane Stores. By this time, the battalion had moved from Selby on the Knavesmire at York, where a training camp had been set up on the racecourse. Here he would have learnt his basic soldiering skills, and he would have done his musketry courses at the ranges at Strensall camp, north of the city.

The incident in which Rifleman Dawkins was wounded is not specifically recorded in the war diary, but the battalion was in trenches, although it had moved along the line slightly, from where it had been when Harry Appleyard was shot, to trenches near Le Trou. The work of improving the condition of the trenches was the same, as were the risks of carrying the work out in day light, and it is likely that Rifleman Dawkins was wounded in doing this work.

He is buried in Plot III, Row F, Grave 8.

1563 Rifleman John Morton, died on 14^th June 1915, aged 20.

John Morton was the only child of James William Morton and his wife, Elizabeth Eliza Ann. He was born in Hunslet, in Leeds in 1895. James Morton died in 1899. His widow, Elizabeth, remarried in 1907 when she married Albert Palmer, a blacksmith’s striker. Together, Albert and Elizabeth Palmer had another two children, a boy named Leonard, and a girl called Nellie.

John Morton became a hydraulic crane driver, working for the Aire and Calder Navigation Company, where he would have spent his time loading and unloading goods from barges in the New Dock.

Like Harry Appleyard, John Morton enlisted in the Leeds Rifles in April 1913. Many Territorial Force battalions saw an influx of recruits in the spring of each year, with the recruits hoping to be enlisted and inducted into their units in time for them to be included in the unit’s summer camp. The annual camp for the Leeds Rifles in 1913, deploying along with the rest of the West Riding Division, was in Aberystwyth and the men were looking forward to spending two weeks under canvas in glorious mid-summer weather, which was in marked contrast to the camp of 1912, which was largely miserable for the fortnight’s training. The area that the two Leeds Rifles battalions were to make camp on were at the small village of Bow Street, some four miles outside Aberystwyth. Some of the ground was marshy and wet, but the advance party was able to drain some and avoid the rest.

The battalion left the trenches for rest on 5^th June 1915 and went into billets at Rue Quesnoy. Two platoons relieved the troops in defended posts, but no casualties for this operation were reported, and on 10^th June, the diary gave casualty figures for the week from 4^th June. One man is reported to have died of wounds (Rfn Charles Dawkins), and 6 others wounded. John Morton must be one of those six wounded men, so it appears that he, too, was wounded in the process of improving the condition of the trenches the battalion was occupying at Le Trou. He died roughly ten days after being wounded.

Rifleman John Morton is buried in Plot III, Row F, Grave 10.

 

2560 Rifleman Arthur Rothwell, died on 26^th June 1915, aged 17.

Rifleman Arthur Rothwell was the youngest of the Leeds Riflemen to be buried in the cemetery at Estaires. He was born in Leeds in 1898 and was the older of two sons of Joseph, a cart driver, and Adelaide Rothwell. The family lived at 71 Cameron Street, off Beckett Street, in the Burmantofts area of Leeds.

Despite his young age, about which he must have lied to enlist, Arthur Rothwell volunteered for the Leeds Rifles at Carlton Barracks aged 16 in September 1914. The battalion had already left Leeds for its war station, then at Selby, when he enlisted, so once his kit was issued, Arthur Rothwell, would have been given a travel warrant to get the train to Selby to begin his training.

Arthur Rothwell was another man who had been wounded some days prior to his death. In his case it is likely to have been between 12^th – 17^th June. The casualties recorded for this period were, one man killed (Rfn Thomas Ashford – 14^th June), one man died of wounds (John Morton, above), and nine others wounded. A further one man was slightly wounded on 18^th June when a German barrage put fifteen shells into C Company’s billets.

Rifleman Arthur Rothwell is buried in Plot III, Row D, Grave 7.