PRIVATE 267175 EDWARD THWAITES 2/6th WEST RIDING REGIMENT.


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 1884 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 March 1915 and went with the battalion when it landed in France in February 1917. After his death Edward's commanding officer wrote a letter of condolence to Mary Thwaites which included these lines; " The news of your sons death in action on November 27th will come as a great blow to you, but it must be some consolation to know that he died instantly and could have suffered no pain. He was a good soldier and was popular with his officers and comrades who all send you their warmest and deepest sympathy."
Private Edward Thwaites has no known grave and is commemorated on the Cambrai Memorial to the Missing and remembered with pride on our war memorial in Ilkley.
Photo courtesy James Cooper





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