CHAPLAIN 4TH CLASS, WILLIAM DUNCAN GEARE, ROYAL ARMY CHAPLAINS DEPARTMENT.
CHAPLAIN 4TH CLASS, WILLIAM DUNCAN GEARE, ROYAL ARMY CHAPLAINS DEPARTMENT. KILLED IN ACTION, 31st JULY 1917, AGED 26. William Geare arrived in Ilkley in early 1914 fresh from the Leeds Clergy School and recently ordained as a priest into the Church of England. Now he was to become the curate to the Parish Church of St Margaret's, on Queens Road, where he would assist the Vicar, Rev H L Glennie to minister to over 4000 parishioners. We are fortunate that many of William’s letters written to his family survive and they show an astonishing enthusiasm for his work in his new parish. Clearly, the Rev. Glennie was also impressed with his work and asked William to help with St Margaret's mission in the poor district of Little Horton In Bradford. It was the advent of war in August 1914 that seems to have convinced William that he he may have a different calling. At the beginning of 1915 he petitioned the Rev. Glennie to allow him the opportunity to serve as a...
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