Ilkley in The First World War

PRIVATE 346272 GEORGE VYVIEN GREEN, ARMY SERVICE CORPS, (MOTOR TRANSPORT). DIED OF NATURAL CAUSES, 17th JANUARY 1918, AGED 25 YEARS. George Green was born in Ilkley the only son of Robert and Edith Green who owned and ran an ironmongers shop at 24, The Grove. A pupil at Ilkley Grammar School he worked for his father after completing his education. He does not appear to have been conscripted into the forces in 1916 but instead was involved in munitions work at a chemical plant  in Castleford. However, after just 4 months this employment ceased as George was deemed unfit to continue. Ill health may have been the reason why he was not accepted by the army until late 1917 when a shortage of manpower meant that medical standards were lowered. George was posted to a motor transport unit of the Army Service Corps which was based in Isleworth, London where in mid January 1918 he became ill with what was diagnosed as capillary bronchitis. Admitted to the Hounslow General Hospit

GUNNER 781351 JOHN WILFRED TRAVIS, 'C' BATTERY, 174th BRIGADE ROYAL FIELD ARTILLERY. KILLED IN ACTION 12th JANUARY 1918. Even during quiet times on The Western Front when there was no ongoing offensive the risk of sudden and violent death was always present for troops in the front line. It was on just such a day that the 174th brigade of the Royal Field Artillery were in position to the west of Ypres when they were subject to an enemy barrage. Four members of the brigade were  killed including Gunner John Travis a 21 year old lad from Ilkley who died instantly. John had lived in Ilkley for most of his life, although, he was born in the Holbeck district of Leeds. He was the youngest of 4 children born to John Travis, a cashier and his wife Margaret. who had moved to Ilkley just after his birth. In 1898 John's mother died at the age of just 35 and his father brought up his children in a terraced house at 18 Middleton Road. Upon leaving school John obtained a

PRIVATE48465 GEORGE EDWARD CALVERT 2/6th NORTH STAFFORDSHIRE REGIMENT. KILLED IN ACTION 30th NOVEMBER 1917, AGED 21 YEARS . 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 has 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 appears to have 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 th

PRIVATE 12741 JOHN ATKINSON 2/6th WEST RIDING REGIMENT. DIED OF WOUNDS 21st DECEMBER 1917 AGED 24 John Atkinson was born in Kirkby Overblow in about 1893 the son of agricultural labourer Richard and his wife Elizabeth. The family moved to Ilkley when John was about 5 years old to live at 26 Leamington Terrace. Like his father he sought employment in agriculture and before the war was working at Wharfedale Grange Farm owned by Jack King on Ben Rhydding Drive. As well a s being a farmer, Jack King, was a renowned international rugby player who played for the Headingley Club in Leeds and it was perhaps his encouragement that spurred John to join Ilkley RUFC. On the second day of the war Jack King enlisted in the army and would, sadly, be killed during the Battle of the Somme. John also enlisted in August 1914 when he joined the Ilkley Pals Company of the 9th Battalion West Riding Regiment. John landed in France with his battalion on 15th July 1915, but at some stage was

GUNNER 40164 THOMAS WILLIAM SAUNDERS, MACHINE GUN CORPS (HEAVY SECTION). DIED AS PRISONER OF WAR 21st DECEMBER 1917 AGED 30                                         HMLS Nutty moves up before Battle of Gaza Thomas Wiliam Saunders was born in East Retford, Nottinghamshire in 1887, the only child of Thomas and Ada Saunders. The family moved to Ilkley when Thomas was a young child where his father had a shop at 45 Brook Street selling fish and poultry. After leaving school Thomas was first employed as an Engine Fitter with the Midland Railway and later became chauffeur to a Mr Jenkinson who lived in a large house called Iddesleigh on Queens Road. In 1911 he married Sarah Ellen Sidgewick in Otley and together they lived at 10 Mornington Road. Conscripted into the army in 1916, Thomas was initially posted to the West Yorkshire Regiment, but soon transferred into the Machine Gun Corps. The attraction appears to have been the tanks which had recently become operational

PRIVATE 66064 EDGAR FORREST, 10th BATTALION ROYAL FUSILIERS (LONDON REGIMENT). KILLED IN ACTION 18th DECEMBER 1917, AGED 20 Born in Wellington Road, Edgar Forrest was the son of Amos, a carter and his wife Elizabeth. He probably attended Ilkley National School on Leeds Road and following the completion of his education taken employment as a horseman. In 1916 he was living in Guiseley and it was there that he married Mary Rishworth Snowden, a cotton weaver, at St Oswald s Parish Church on the 22nd April. Before the year was out the couple would have a daughter, Irene. Edgar was conscripted into the army when he was 18 years old and joined the 89th Training Battalion. In May 1917 he was posted initially to the Norfolk Regiment but a month later was re-assigned to the 10th Battalion Royal Fusiliers. This unit had originally been formed at the beginning of the war by wealthy bankers from the City of London and was known as the 'Stockbrokers Battalion'. However, as the wa