Ilkley in The First World War

GUNNER 781346 RONALD SHEARD 246 BRIGADE ROYAL FIELD ARTILLERY. KILLED IN ACTION 7th AUGUST 1917 AGED 24  Ronald Sheard was born in Ilkley in 1894 at 29 Gordon Street, the youngest of 4 sons. Before the war his widowed mother, Charlotte, moved to a house on Wilmot Road which she ran as a small boarding house whilst Ronald worked as an errand boy for a local chemist. Ronald was also a territorial soldier having enlisted with the 4th West Riding Howitzer Battery which was  based at the Drill Hall on Leeds Road. In July 1914 just a couple of weeks before the start of the war Ronald appears to have resigned from the battery. In 1915 he married Agnes Ball who was from Leigh in Lancashire and the following year a daughter, Mildred, was born. At about the same time as his marriage, Ronald, appears to have enlisted back into the army. Given his previous service it isn't surprising that he enlisted into the Royal Field Artillery and was allocated to 246 Brigade which was m

CAPTAIN EDWARD PATEY, 3RD BATTALION RIFLE BRIGADE. KILLED IN ACTION 2nd AUGUST 1917 AGED 35 Born in Bickley, Kent in 1882, Edward Patey was the son of Henry Bennett Patey and his wife Helen. His father was a senior employee with the General Post Office in London and who was able to provide a comfortable living for his family. Edward was sent as a border to Hereford Cathedral School and then attended Hertford College, Oxford where he studied Modern History, graduating i n 1904. The death of Edward's father saw the family move to Norwich where after graduation he gained employment as a teacher at the local grammar school. At some stage before the war Edward obtained a teaching position at Clevedon House a private prep school which until recently was on Ben Rhydding Drive in Ilkley. In 1914 Edward enlisted as a private in the 18th Royal Fusiliers, a public school's battalion which recruited men who had attended private school. On 14th november 1915 he arrived in Fra

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

CORPORAL 266905 WILFRED (WILFRID) HALL, 18TH BATTALION KINGS (LIVERPOOL) REGIMENT (2ND CITY).KILLED IN ACTION 31st JULY 1917, AGED 20 Wilfred Hall was born in Ilkley on 20th January 1897 the only child of Thomas and Martha Hall who lived at 51 Wellington Road. His father died in 1902 and his mother seems to have taken employment in large country houses working as a cook. Just before the beginning of the war Wilfred and his mother were working near to Ormskirk and living in South port. On 1st July 1915 went to the Bootle district of Liverpool and enlisted into the Kings Liverpool Regiment. Initially he wasn't sent to France but appears to have remained in Britain as a musketry instructor. In fact it was in June 1917 that he finally arrived at the front as a corporal in the regiments 18th Battalion as it prepared for the Passchendaele offensive. For nearly two weeks before the day of the attack the British heavy artillery pounded the German positions in an effort t

PRIVATE 202399 WILLIAM DARNBROUGH, 1ST BATTALION SHERWOOD FORESTERS. KILLED IN ACTION 31st JULY 1917 AGED 19 In early summer 1917 the British High Command turned their attention to the Ypres Sector at the western end of the British front line. The German Army were positioned on a series of low ridges that overlooked the city and from where that could direct fire onto the British front line below. It was believed that more advanced artillery tactics and better prepared infantry would help to clear the enemy from the security of their hilltop positions. Officially the battle was called 3rd Ypres but it is always known as Passchendaele the most western of the ridges. For the soldiers who fought in the sector from July to November 1917 it was simply called 'Hell'. The British artillery barrage had begun on the 16th July hoping to destroy the enemy barbed wire and defensive positions. The attack itself was to begin at 3.50am (Zero Hour) on the 31st July when every Bri

PRIVATE 32962 LEONARD WELESBY CLARK, 1/9th BATTALION DURHAM LIGHT INFANTRY. KILLED IN ACTION 31st JULY 1917 AGED 31 Born in the tiny hamlet of Burton Stather in North Lincolnshire in 1887, Leonard Clark was the fifth child of Charles and Sarah Clark. Charles died in 1892 and in about 1899 the family moved to Ilkley where they lived at 30 Wellington Road. Leonard began his working life as an apprentice baker but by 1914 was working as a labourer at Ilkley Brewery on Rail way Road. On 16th November 1912 he married Florence Ambler from Leeds at All Saints Parish Church and set up home at 15 Dean Street. Leonard was not one of the initial surge of recruits from the town but waited until December 1915 to volunteer for the army and In March the following year was posted to the Durham Light Infantry. He remained in Britain until 10th December 1916 when he arrived in France and on Christmas day of that year joined the 2nd Battalion DLI. Leonard remained with this battalion u

GUNNER 87051 JOHN GEORGE WAGGITT, 4th BRIGADE CANADIAN FIELD ARTILLERY. DROWNED 31ST JULY 1917 AGED 24 Grave at Addingham At 9.30am on the morning of the 31st July 1917 Arthur Bland, a gardener from Burley in Wharfedale was climbing up Hebers Ghyll which lies on the western edge of Ilkley. As he looked over the bridge near to the entrance on Grove Road Arthur saw a body dressed in a soldiers uniform about 20 feet below him lying face down in a pool of water. The local police were called  and Inspector Bell went down the slippery banks of the Ghyll and retrieved the body. A seemingly cursory examination of the scene by the inspector concluded that the deceased had simply fallen off the bridge and died by drowning in the beck below. The body was soon recognised as being that of John Waggitt who lived with his family at Moorside Farm at Addingham Moorside and his father, also called John, was sent for and was able to identify the body as being that of his son. Three d

AIRCRAFT MECHANIC (FIRST CLASS) 31117 EDWARD LISTER, ROYAL FLYING CORPS. DIED OF NATURAL CAUSES 26th JULY 1917 AGED 39 Grave in Ilkley Cemetery Edward Lister was born in Ilkley in August 1877 one of six children of railway porter George Lister and his wife Sarah who lived on Brook Street.  A plumber by trade Edward married Edith Asquith in 1900 and together set up home at 16 Leicester Crescent where they had two daughters. Conscripted into the army in 1916 his previous experience probably explains Edwards deployment into the Royal Flying Corps as a mechanic. He never served overseas and instead was sent to RFC aerodrome at Wye in Kent where on the 26th July 1917 he suffered from what was diagnosed as an epileptic fit and died in hospital apparently from complications. Edward's body was returned to his family in Ilkley and buried in the towns cemetery in a ceremony which appears not to have been reported by the Ilkley Gazette. His family chose not to have a War

LIEUTENANT WILLIAM SUTTON SMEETH, ROYAL FLYING CORPS. KILLED IN A FLYING ACCIDENT 17th JULY 1917 AGED 22. William Smeeth was born on 16th April 1895 in Morley, Leeds the second son of a wealthy iron merchant, Thomas Smeeth and his wife Mary. Within a couple of years the family moved to Ben Rhydding where they lived in a large house called 'The Sycamores' which once stood at the junction of Ben Rhydding Road and Constable Road. To begin with William was educated at local school s including Ilkley Grammar where he was a pupil until 1909 when he was then sent to the Loretto School in Edinburgh to complete his education. A talented sportsman he was good enough to play in the Ilkley Grammar 1st XI when he was only 14 years old as well as representing the school at rugby. In the years before the war he played cricket for Bradford CC and rugby for the prestigious Headingley Club. His talents as a left arm bowler were soon recognised by the Yorkshire Cricket Club and he

CORPORAL 120586 ERIC WILKINSON KNOWLES, N SPECIAL COMPANY, ROYAL ENGINEERS. KILLED IN ACTION 14th JULY 1917 AGED 21 Photo courtesy Nick Hooper Bradford Grammar School Eric Wilkinson Knowles first attempted to enlist in the army at the beginning of the war but he was rejected for the infantry because of his poor eyesight. Undeterred by this setback his second attempt was successful when was accepted by the Royal Army Medical Corps on 1st March 1915 when he joined the Territorial 2/1st West Yorkshire Field Ambulance. Based at Welbeck Park in Nottinghamshire this was a reserve unit which provided reinforcements and replacements for its sister unit, 1st West Yorkshire Field Ambulance which was already in France. Clearly, Eric retained a desire to serve in a unit near to the front line and in September 1915 he applied for a transfer to the Royal Engineers. Despite his weak eyesight he was accepted and within just a couple of weeks arrived in France. The Royal Engineers pr

2nd LIEUTENANT ISLAY FERRIER BURNS, 97th COMPANY MACHINE GUN CORPS (INFANTRY). KILLED IN ACTION 10th JULY 1917 AGED 21 YEARS. Islay Burns, known as Bobbie', was born in Chatham, Kent on the 20th September 1896 the son of Islay and May Burns. However, within a few years the family moved to Cambridge where Islay senior was to become a tutor and librarian at the Presbyterian, Westminster College. Bobbie began his education in Cambridge at the Perse School but in about 1909 he came to Ilkley as a boarder at Ilkley Grammar School. Popular with his peers he loved debating and rugby and was a frequent contributor to the school magazine, The Olicanian, to which he would submit poems under the pen name 'Tam O' Shanter'.Even during the war years he would send letters and articles to both the Olicanian and the Ilkley Gazette when he would describe the horrors of life in the trenches and compare them almost lyrically with the softer times that he had in Ilkley. In one

MIDSHIPMAN CHRISTOPHER ARTHUR GRESHAM COOKE, ROYAL NAVY. ACCIDENTLY KILLED IN AN EXPLOSION, 9th JULY 1917 AGED 18. Christopher Cooke was only 15 years old when he went to war in 1914. A cadet at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth on 4th August 1914 at the outbreak of war he was mobilised for service in the Royal Navy. Born in Cambridge in 1899, Christopher, was the son of Arthur and Vivian Cooke. His father was amongst the preeminent surgeons in the country and was consultant at the famous Addenbrooke's Hospital. Arthur Cooke had lived for most of his childhood in Ilkley, his father was a wealthy woollen merchant who lived in a house called Summerfield. Raised in a prosperous household, young Christopher was able to spend his holidays boating on the Norfolk Broads, skiing in Switzerland or with his grandparents in Ilkley. Christopher had been intent on joining the Royal Navy since early childhood and after finishing at St Peters Court Prep School in Kent he was s

MAJOR KENNETH MITCHELL POTTER DSO, 'D' BATTERY 52nd BRIGADE ROYAL FIELD ARTILLERY. KILLED IN ACTION 8th JULY 1917 AGED 35 Kenneth Potter was born in Ilkley in the spring of 1882, the third son of William Furniss Potter and his wife Kate. His father had made a considerable fortune constructing railways in both India and Japan sufficient that he was able to retire at a young age. Together with his wife William bought a large house which they called Arundel Lodge built on   an extensive plot at the junction of Wilton Road and Grove Road in Ilkley. It seems likely that Kenneth was educated locally until the age of 12 years when he was sent as a boarder to the famous public school Marlborough College which he attended until the age of 16 years. His subsequent whereabouts are unknown, but in July 1901 he received a commission in the Royal Artillery. Kenneth began his military career at Aldershot, but was soon on his way to Ireland where his unit was stationed at The Curr

2nd LIEUTENANT ARTHUR REGINALD DEAN (DCM), 1st BATTALION EAST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT. KILLED IN ACTION 3rd JULY 1917 AGED 23. Born in Ilkley on the 14th November 1894, Arthur was the third of four sons of Tom and Ester Dean who lived at Craig End Lodge on Cowpasture Road. Tom Dean was a well-known builder in the town who had a yard on Nelson Road where all his sons would be involved in the family business. Like his brothers, Arthur was also a pupil at Ilkley Grammar School before the war, where he excelled at football and rugby, later becoming a playing member of Ilkley Rugby Club. Archie Dean 2nd left back row In late August 1914, just after the start of the war, Arthur was one of many young men from the town who enlisted in the Ilkley Pals Company of the 9th West Riding Regiment. In July 1915 With the rest of his battalion Arthur arrived in France in July 1915 and was soon in action in the Ypres Sector of the Western Front. In September, Arthur, now promoted to corpo