PRIVATE 28932 ERNEST ALBERT FEATHERSTONE, 2ND BATTALION NORTHUMBERLAND FUSILIERS.


PRIVATE 28932 ERNEST ALBERT FEATHERSTONE, 2ND BATTALION NORTHUMBERLAND FUSILIERS. DIED 7TH MARCH 1917 AGED 35


Ernest Featherstone succumbed to malaria at Kopriva on 7th February 1917 whilst serving with his battalion on the Macedonian Front in Greece.


The 2nd Northumberland Fusiliers were part of a multi-national force fighting the Bulgarians in this largely forgotten campaign fought the uplands of northern Greece. Bitterly cold in winter and searingly hot in summer with the added danger of endemic malaria meant that the majority of British casualties were from disease.

Born in Ilkley the son of builder Daniel Featherstone who lived at Whitton Lodge on Wells Road, Ernest was baptised at St Margaret’s Church on Queens Road. In 1907 he married Hannah Susan Hughes and set up home at 16 Weston Road and the following years she gave birth to a son, Albert Ernest. He joined the army in May 1916 and was posted to the Macedonian Front in November of that year.

Today Private Albert Featherstone lies in the British Military Cemetery at Struma in Greece. On his gravestone his wife had inscribed the following: "to memory dear from his loving wife and son". He is also remembered on our war memorial in Ilkley.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

SERGEANT THOMAS HARPER WHITAKER. 1st BATTALION NIGERIA REGIMENT, WEST AFRICAN FRONTIER FORCE. DIED 29th JANUARY 1918 AGED 37

Image
SERGEANT THOMAS HARPER WHITAKER. 1 st BATTALION NIGERIA REGIMENT, WEST AFRICAN FRONTIER FORCE. DIED 29 th JANUARY 1918 AGED 37 Harper Whitaker was born in Horsforth in 1881 the son of a stone contractor Thomas Whitaker and his wife Anne. One of twelve children he and his family lived in a large house called Summerfield, on New Road Side. A pupil at Ilkley Grammar School he went on to study civil engineering and during the early years of the 20 th Century went to work on the Lagos Railway in Nigeria. He was in the colony at the outbreak of war in 1914 and made an application to join one of the locally raised regiments who would see action in nearby German controlled Cameroon. However, because of the essential nature of his work he remained at his post with the railway company. By 1917 local West African units had been formed into the West African Frontier Force (WAFF) and sent across the continent into East Africa where they were to assist in the long running campai...
Read more

LANCE CORPORAL 1962 HENRY SCOTT (HARRY) CRYER, 1/6th BATTALION WEST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT. KILLED IN ACTION 19th AUGUST 1915, AGED 28.

Image
LANCE CORPORAL 1962 HENRY SCOTT (HARRY) CRYER, 1/6 th BATTALION WEST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT. KILLED IN ACTION 19 th AUGUST 1915, AGED 28. It was at about 10.30am on the 19 th August 1915 that Lance Corporal Harry Cryer went into a dugout in the reserve lines of the 6 th West Yorkshire Regiment who were in position to the north of Ypres. As he roused one of the occupants a German shell landed on the parapet of the trench killing Harry instantly. Harry was born in Muswell Hill, London in 1897 the eldest son of Walter and Mary Scott who both originated in the West Riding. His father seems to have been involved in a number of business ventures in London and Essex but by the early 1900s he had brought his family back to Yorkshire. The family came to live in Ilkley and for a number of years occupied a house on St James Road and Harry attended Ilkley Grammar School. By 1911 the Cryer family were living on Duckworth Grove in the Girlington area of Bradford and Harry was employed ...
Read more