CAPTAIN GEOFFREY SKIRROW 2/4th BATTALION KINGS OWN YORKSHIRE LIGHT INFANTRY (Attached). KILLED IN ACTION 27th AUGUST 1918, AGED 22.


CAPTAIN GEOFFREY SKIRROW 2/4th BATTALION KINGS OWN YORKSHIRE LIGHT INFANTRY (Attached). KILLED IN ACTION 27th AUGUST 1918, AGED 22.




During the Summer of 1918 as the war on the Western Front progressed towards its conclusion there was no let up in the intensity of the fighting as the Allied armies drove against a faltering but still dangerous enemy. After the successes achieved by the Germans during their Spring Offensive the British slowly and steadily regained the ground that they had lost earlier in the year and were now poised to breach the fearsome defences of the Hindenburg Line. Even though the fighting now took place over the shattered battlefields of 1916 and 1917 fighting  was more mobile and success depended on speedy rather than meticulous planning; it was a type of warfare at which British Divisions seemed to excel.

The 62nd (West Riding) Division had only arrived in France in 1917 and was recruited largely from the old West Riding of Yorkshire. Its efficiency and fighting spirit was somewhat derided by some officers in the high command and its initial reputation was not great. But it had learned quickly and in the heat of battle especially in the latter stages of the war forged a reputation as an extremely effective fighting unit the equal of any of the more famous British or Colonial Divisions

Geoffrey Skirrow a lieutenant in the 2/5th Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment, of the 62nd Division, arrived in France in January 1917. He had been gazetted into the battalion during its formation in 1915 and remained with it until was disbanded at the beginning of August 1918. During his time his bravery was recognised by the award of the French Croix de Guerre and his efficiency and leadership qualities by promotion to acting captain. Upon leaving the 2/5th he was attached to another battalion in the same division, the 2/4th Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry commanding D Company. On the 27th August, just a few days after joining the battalion, Geoffrey and his company were in position near to the village of Mory St Leger north west of Bapaume in the Somme sector. The previous day he had distinguished himself by leading his company against a German machine gun and had shot the crew with his revolver and now Geoffrey was ordered to lead his men again in an early morning attack against enemy defensive positions. Assembling in the forward trenches at 7am D Company followed a creeping artillery barrage out into No Mans land where they came under intense machine gun fire which killed Geoffrey.

Born in Headingley, Leeds, in 1896 Geoffrey was the only son of a stockbroker John Skirrow and his wife Emma. The family seems to have moved to Ilkley in1904 and may have lived on Clifton Road. Geoffrey spent four years at Ilkley Grammar School in the junior department before moving to a prep school at Aysgarth when his parents left the town to take up residence at Masham. He spent several years at Harrow School in London before going up to Clare College, Cambridge to study Law where he was involved in the Officer Training Corps. Foregoing his studies Geoffrey enlisted into the army in 1915 when he was gazetted into the 2/5th West Yorkshires.

After his death his commanding office Lt. Col. Chaytor wrote of Geoffrey “.....He did not seem to know what fear was, and his men were absolutely devoted to him. He is a great loss to us. For many years after 1918 his family would place a memoriam notice in the Yorkshire Post on the anniversary of his death.

Today Captain Geoffrey Skirrow lies in Mory Abbey Military Cemetery and is remembered with pride on the war memorial in Ilkley Grammar School.



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