PRIVATE 425677 ARTHUR SAMUAL HIGHAM, 43RD (MANITOBA REGIMENT) CANADIAN INFANTRY. KILLED IN ACTION 4TH OCTOBER 1916.


PRIVATE 425677 ARTHUR SAMUAL HIGHAM, 43RD (MANITOBA REGIMENT) CANADIAN INFANTRY. KILLED IN ACTION 4TH OCTOBER 1916.


On the 4th October 1916 the 43rd Canadian Infantry Battallion(Manitoba Regiment) were in the front line near to the village of Courcelette in the Somme Sector. At about 10am a small patrol was sent into no mans land, this drew the attention of the Germans and they began firing at the Canadians. Several men were hit and wounded, but 26 year old Private Arthur Samuel Higham, acting as company runner was killed.


Arthur was born in Bromley, Kent and his father was a gardener who moved about the country seeking work. In 1911 the family appears to have settled in Ilkley and lived at 15 Ash Grove. Arthur worked for a joinery firm called Eagle and Mawson who had premises on Nelson Road and spent his spare time playing for Ilkley RFC.

In 1912 Arthur travelled to Canada and worked as a farmer near to Winnipeg, Manitoba where he enlisted on 5th November 1915. On 25th march 1916 He arrived back in England and would have had the opportunity to visit his family back in Ilkley. The 43rd Battalion landed in France on 6th June 1916 and fought on the Somme front throughout the summer

Arthur Higham has no known grave and is commemorated on the Canadian Memorial at Vimy Ridge and is remembered on our memorial in Ilkley.



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