Ilkley in The First World War

SERGEANT ERNEST OSWALD LISTER, 284th ARMY TROOPS COMPANY ROYAL ENGINEERS. DIED OF NATURAL CAUSES, 13th DECEMBER 1917, AGED 40 Ernest Lister was born in Ilkley in 1878 the son of Oswald and Priscilla Lister who lived at Poplar Grove on Tivoli Place. Oswald was a self employed plasterer and Ernest followed his father into the building trade by becoming a stone mason. Following the death of his father before World War 1 Ernest had set up in business as an asphhelter and co ncreter and would, no doubt, been have had plenty of work as ilkley expanded in the years before 1914. Ernest had also served in the army, in the Royal Engineers, probably at the time of the Boer War, and after returning to civilian life, joined what was known as the Special Reserve. This meant that he continued to be paid as a regular soldier but was eligible to return to his unit in times of war. In 1914 at the outbreak of war and aged over 36 years, Ernest was recalled to by the Royal Engineers, an

PRIVATE 32399 ARTHUR HARRISON, 2/6th BATTALION SOUTH STAFFORDSHIRE REGIMENT. DIED OF WOUNDS, 7th DECEMBER 1917, AGED 19 Born in Skipton in 1898 Arthur Harrison had spent much of his childhood in Bentham in Lancashire where his father, Thomas, was a railway signalman. Just before the outbreak of war the family moved to Ilkley and lived at number 5 Golden Butts Road. At the age of 18 Arthur was conscripted into the army and assigned to the South Staffordshire Regiment. In  the summer of 1917 and now 19 years old he arrived in France and joined the 2/6th Battalion as they prepared for the attacks against the German position near to Cambrai. On the 29th and 30th November the battalion was positioned in the support limes at Bourlon Wood as the front lime came under a sustained and violent German attack. As the South Staffs moved forward to assist another battalion they were doused with enemy high explosive and gas shells (probably phosgene). Hundreds of men were either ki

PRIVATE 48465 GEORGE EDWARD CALVERT, 2/6th NORTH STAFFORDSHIRE REGIMENT. KILLED IN ACTION 30th NOVEMBER 1917, AGED  George Calvert was born in the tiny village of Coatham, near to Redcar on the Yorkshire Coast in Cleveland. His mother is known to have been called Agnes but there are no details of his father and it is possible that he was illegitimate. He spent his childhood in the care of his elderly grandfather whose death just before the war caused him to move down t o Ilkley. George had an older sister Ellen who worked in domestic service at Ghyll Royd on Grove Road and who in 1913 married a local man called Harry Robinson. The newly married couple lived at 7 Castle Yard where George joined them after the death of his grandfather. It appears that George enlisted into the army during late 1916 and was posted to the 2/6th North Staffordshire Regiment sometime the following year. In November of that year the battalion was heavily involved in the attacks at Cambrai and on th

PRIVATE 267175 EDWARD THWAITES 2/6th WEST RIDING REGIMENT. KILLED IN ACTION 27th NOVEMBER 1917 AGED 33 Edward Thwaites was killed in the same action which took the life of Basil Mann during the attack on Bourlon Wood, Cambrai. The West Riding Regiment had successfully achieved their objective of capturing the wood but attack had not been without heavy casualties and subsequent German counter-attacks had caused the loss of even more men. Born in Ilkley on 11th January 1 884 he was the only son of John and Mary Ann Thwaites who ran a well known tobacconists shop at 26 Brook Street. He was educated at Ilkley National School on Leeds Road and later Belle View Boys Grammar School on Manningham Lane, Bradford. Edward worked in the tobacconist with his parents an sisters and together they lived above the shop. In his spare time he was a playing member of Ilkley Rugby Club and would no doubt have been well known in the town. Edward enlisted into the 2/6th West Riding Regiment in

CAPTAIN BASIL STAINFORTH MANN, 2/6TH WEST RIDING REGIMENT. KILLED IN ACTION 27th NOVEMBER 1917, AGED 21 Basil was born in the village of Weeton between Otley and Harrogate in 1896 the eldest of four children and only son of William Hutchinson Mann and his wife Alice. His father was an engineer who along with his two brothers owned and ran Mann and Charlesworth & Co who manufactured steam traction engines at their large premises on Pepper Road in the Hunslet  area of Leeds. Basil began is education at Leeds Grammar School but when the family moved to Ilkley in 1909, to live at 2 Fernbank, 10 Crossbeck Road, he was sent as a boarder to Oakham School in Rutland. He finished school in 1913 and was employed in the woollen trade locally and seems to have spent much of his time on the continent. At the outbreak of war in 1914 Basil enlisted as a private in the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps. This was a unit which existed to train men with no previous military

PRIVATE 39318 FRED HAWKINS, 2/8th BATTALION WEST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT. KILLED IN ACTION 22nd NOVEMBER 1917, AGED 28 The Battle of Passchendaele had drawn to a wet and muddy close in the middle of November 1917, but weeks before the British High Command had already begun planning for the next offensive. Tanks had become an established part of British attacks and planners believed that there use en-mass could provide an opportunity to breach the German defenses. Under cond itions of great secrecy the British gathered hundreds of tanks behind the lines near to the lines at Cambrai north of the old Somme battlefield. On 20th November an attack was launched spearheaded by the British tanks followed by thousands of infantry. The attack was successful beyond expectations as the enemy defences crumbled in front of this mechanical onslaught. British celebrations included the ringing of church bells back in Britain but the joy was premature as in subsequent days the attack became bogged

PRIVATE 765739 FRANCIS LAURIE VINCENT TAYLOR, 2/28th BATTALION COUNTY OF LONDON REGIMENT (ARTISTS RIFLES). DIED 10th NOVEMBER 1917 AGED 18. Laurie Taylor was born in Ilkley in 1899 the son of Joseph and Frances Taylor. His father and grandfather had moved into the town in the 1870's and had opened a private preparatory school located in a large house called Burnside on Wheatley Road. It is probable that Laurie was born in the house, although, by the time of his birth the  school appears to have closed. The family, including his younger brother now moved to 1 Westville Avenue where Joseph Taylor became a private tutor and it is possible that Laurie was educated at home. At the age of 17 Laurie seems to have moved to the capital where he became a student at London University. However, it was on the 9th May 1917 that he went to the recruiting office in Whitehall and enlisted into the Artists Rifles battalion, a Territorial Army unit part of the London Regiment. The battal

GUNNER 158797 WILLIAM SMITH 157 BRIGADE ROYAL FIELD ARTILLERY. DIED OF WOUNDS 2nd NOVEMBER 1917 AGED 21 Born on the 8th August 1896 in the Scholemoor area of Bradford, William Smith was the son of Edwin Smith a plumber and his wife Anne. In the early part of the century, Edwin Smith took the tenancy of the Wheatley Hotel in Ben Rhydding. Educated locally Willie Smith was also a playing member of the Ilkley Rugby Club. Just before the war the Smith family seems to have moved back to Bradford where Willie became an apprentice auctioneer and married Edith and together set up home on Ireson Street in the Princeville are of the city. Willie enlisted into the Royal Field Artillery in December 1914 and was posted to 157 Brigade which was a unit largely recruited from Aberdeen. In the late summer of 1917 the Brigade was in the Ypres area and involved in the attacks against the German position that overlooked the city. In the latter part of October the 157th Brigade were posi

CAPTAIN JOSEPH TOLSON 1/6th SHERWOOD FORESTERS (NOTTINGHAMSHIRE AND DERBYSHIRE REGIMENT). DIED OF WOUNDS 28th OCTOBER 1917, AGED 32 Although, born in Wilmslow, Cheshire in 1885, Joseph Tolson moved to Ilkley with his parents when when he was just a few years old. His father Charles Guthrie Tolson was a worsted manufacturer who came from a wealthy family who originated in Huddersfield. Along with his wife Anna and daughters they moved into a house called Blackstone on Hangingstone Road. Joseph was sent as a boarder to the famous public school at Rugby where he excelled at sport. At the age of 18 he left school and went into business with his father who was a senior partner in the firm of Tolson and Chisnell. the firm began trading in cotton fabric and moved their offices to Bale Street in Manchester. Now a junior partner Joseph was sent abroad to seek new markets for the firm and he spent time in China and Japan as well as in Scandinavia where firm had many contacts.

CORPORAL 12748 JOSEPH SMITH (MM), 10th BATTALION WEST RIDING REGIMENT. KILLED IN ACTION 18th OCTOBER 1917 AGED 21 Joe Smith was barely 18 years old when he enlisted in the Ilkley Pals Company of the 9th West Riding Regiment, in September 1914. A butcher by trade he was one of four sons born to Thomas and Emma Smith in Burley in Wharfedale. The family had moved to Ilkley in the years immediately before the war and lived variously in East Parade and Wellington Road. Not  long after the battalion arrived in France in July 1915 Joe was badly wounded in the legs by enemy shrapnel and was evacuated back to England. In total he would spend 15 months recovering from his wounds and would not return to France until November 1916. Instead of returning to the 9th Battalion he was posted to the 10th where he would serve with 'A' Company, which by chance contained a number of men from Ilkley. Joe was promoted to corporal and on the 20th September 1917 took part in an attac

PRIVATE 35946 JOSEPH JAGGER, 12th BATTALION KINGS OWN YORKSHIRE LIGHT INFANTRY. KILLED IN ACTION 15th OCTOBER 1917 AGED 24 On the 10th October 1916 Joe Jagger married Frances Short at the Methodist Chapel on Wells Road in Ilkley. It would be a short marriage for within just 12 months Joe would be dead, killed during the battle of Passchendaele. Joe was born in the village of Clifford near York in 1893, the son of David and Harriet. His father was a farmer who brought  his family to Lee Farm at Priesthorpe near Calverley and Joe followed in his fathers footsteps, working as an agricultural labourer. In early 1916 whilst working in Beverley, Joe, enlisted into the 12th Battalion the Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, but before he was posted overseas married Frances Short whom he had probably met whilst she was working as a domestic servant in a large house in Calverley. The 12th Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry were a pioneer battalion who were regarded as the work

2nd LIEUTENANT HERBERT ALBERT EDWIN MILNES, 3RD BATTALION AUCKLAND REGIMENT, NEW ZEALAND ARMY CORPS. KILLED IN ACTION 4th OCTOBER 1917 AGED 43 At 5.25 am on the morning of the 4th October 1917, 2nd Lieutenant Herbert Milnes led his company out into No-Man’s Land near to Polygon Wood in the Ypres Sector during the Battle of Passchendaele. Part of a major attack by Australian and New Zealand troops the objective was the elimination of several German strong points. Initially the attack went according to plan but at a position known as Otto Farm enemy resistance stiffened and ss Albert encouraged his men forward a mortar shell landed at his feet and its explosion killed him instantly. Herbert Milnes was born in the Beeston area of south Leeds on the 6th March 1875, the son of farmer Christopher and his wife Mary. Christopher’s early death meant that the family had to forgo the farm and move into a small terraced house in nearby Beeston Hill. Despite their straightened circ

REGIMENTAL QUARTERMASTER SERGEANT 12914 MAURICE DACRE, 8th BATTALION WEST RIDING REGIMENT. DIED 15th OCTOBER 1917, AGED 26 On 31st August 1914 Maurice Dacre and his older Brian attended a meeting in the Kings Hall in Ilkley where they volunteered for the service in the British Army. Along with 130 other local men they enlisted in what became 'A' Company 9th West Riding Regiment and known as the Ilkley Pals. Maurice was the second of two sons born to William and Helena Dacre who lived at 9 Mount Pleasant, off Cowpasture Road. William was a well known local auctioneer and in time both his sons would join the firm. The Dacre family were Methodists who worshiped at Christchurch on The Grove and both sons were educated at Ilkley Grammar School. Within days of enlisting Maurice and his brother and the rest of the Ilkley Pals set off to Wool in Dorset where they began their training. Clearly, Maurice impressed his superiors and relatively quickly was promoted throug

CAPTAIN ERIC FITZWATER WILKINSON MC, 8TH BATTALION WEST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT (2nd LEEDS RIFLES). KILLED IN ACTION 9th OCTOBER 1917 AGED 26. In early October 1917 and whilst serving on the Western Front, Eric Wilkinson wrote in a letter to his mother, Lily, "..apart from a shrinking of the nerves which I have always had to conquer, I can honestly say that I have no fear of death in me..". Sadly, by the time his mother read these lines her youngest surviving son lay dead on Passchendaele Ridge. Eric Wilkinson was born in Rochdale in 1891 the third of four sons born to Herbert and Lily Wilkinson. Herbert had worked in banking but seems to have had sufficient income to allow him to retire at an early age. The family moved to Dorset on the south coast where Eric attended the local Grammar School in Dorchester where he appears to have been a model student. In 1904 the Wilkinson family moved to Ilkley where they lived in a house called Thornycroft on Bolling Road