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 an army chaplain on the Western Front. Initially reluctant the Rev Glennie eventually bowed to the inevitable and allowed his young curate to apply for a position with the Royal Army Chaplains Department. On 6th July 1915 William attended an interview in London with the Chaplain General, Bishop John Taylor. The bishop noted that he was kind, bright and strong but tempered this with the view that he was very inexperienced. Nevertheless, William's, clear enthusiasm won through and he was accepted as an army chaplain, but not for service at the front.

In May 1916 William was posted as chaplain to the Royal Artillery Depot at Ripon where he would conduct C of E services and act as the depots entertainments officer. William threw himself into his new role and often invited his former parishioners from St Margaret's to join him at services in the camp.

In his letters William expresses his frustration at being kept from the front line and he repeatedly requested to serve at the front. Eventually on 16th September his superiors relented and he was posted as chaplain to the 165th Brigade in France. This brigade, made up of tough working men from Liverpool was not an easy posting. Yet with his obvious youthful enthusiasm he was able to endear himself to his new charges. Rather than remain behind the lines William insisted on being with the men in the front line trenches so that he could experience the horrors and dangers of the trenches and empathise with the concerns of the men he was anxious to serve. Always seen with his trademark pipe he would tend to their necessary spiritual needs yet William always understood that that the men needed more than just God and always carried a plentiful supply of cigarettes to distribute to those who needed them. Frequently he would ask his former parishioners back in Ilkley to help him by supplying these important necessities, indeed it is true to say that cigarettes bought in the tobacconists of leafy upmarket Brook Street and The Grove ended up in the muddy and grimy hands of Liverpudlian soldiers. Never one to shirk his responsibilities William would always be present during attacks, although, unarmed he would follow his men into action and help to tend to the many wounded.

On 31st July 1917, the first day of the Battle of Passchendaele, 135 Brigade were to attack the German trenches near to the village of Potlize to the east of Ypres. The attack went well and the men from the King's Liverpool Regiment achieved their initial objectives. Ever concerned about the men William headed off into No Man’s Land with his pockets full of cigarettes to give to the attacking troops. As he picked his way across the shell pitted landscape he came across a young soldier who was badly wounded. Immediately he went to offer assistance and help tend to his injuries but as he knelt down a German shell exploded nearby and killed William, instantly.

It was during a lull in the fighting that men from the Liverpool Regiment reverently gathered Williams shattered body and brought him back to the British lines and at a brief but moving ceremony they laid him to rest alongside other men from the battalion that he had served.

William Duncan Geare was born in Hampstead, London on 28th November 1890 the son of solicitor Henry Geare and his wife Caroline. Educated at Westminster School and Queens College Cambridge, from an early age it appears that he wished to take Holy Orders.

Today William Geare lies in the British Military Cemetery at Vlamertinge and is remembered with pride on our war memorial in Ilkley and at St Margaret’s on Queens Road.

On his headstone his parents had carved the words "called, chosen and faithful with Christ" whilst a soldier of the Kings Liverpool Regiment recalled in a letter to his parents said "....if we were in need of help any time, Mr Geare was the one to see us through."

Photos courtesy James Cooper