Ilkley in The First World War by Edward Wild

PRIVATE 29433 THOMAS HUXLEY, 2/5th BATTALION WEST RIDING REGIMENT. KILLED IN ACTION 30th JUNE 1917 AGED 29 Courtesy Whitchurch Great War History Hub Thomas Huxley, the son of an agricultural labourer, was born in the tiny hamlet of Whixall near to Wem, Shropshire, in 1888. At about the beginning of the war Tom came to Ilkley to work as a cowman at Wharfedale Grange Farm, located off what is now called Ben Rhydding Road, which was owned by John (Jack) Abbott King with his brother Arthur and their sisters. Jack   King was well known International Rugby player who represented England on many occasions and who had enlisted in the Yorkshire Hussars in August 1914 and would be killed during the Somme battles in 1916. Arthur, his brother, also enlisted and the sisters were left to look after the farm. It appears likely that Tom Huxley would have been in charge of the day to day running of the farm, especially the cattle. Tom seems to have been a deeply religious man who was a stau...

PRIVATE 38235 DAVID SMITH, 17th BATTALION WEST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT (2nd LEEDS PALS). KILLED IN ACTION 25th JUNE 1917 AGED 37 Born in Crosshills in 1880 David Smith came to live in Ilkley in about 1905 and took a house at 12 Middleton Road. A master plasterer and concreter by trade he appears to have worked mainly for Ilkley Urban District Council and the Midland Railway Company. In 1913 David married Kate Alice Bell in Skipton and two years later in 1915 a son was born.   In 1916 David would have been conscripted into the army and in September of that year joined the 17th West Yorkshire Regiment. Known as the 2nd Leeds Pals battalion they were originally raised in the city in December 1914. They were also a 'bantam' battalion that is is open to men who were below the normal regulation height of 5'3" but who otherwise met the British Army's medical criteria. They had been heavily involved during the Somme  Campaign and suffered severe casualties. David ...

LANCE CORPORAL 39971 HAROLD ALLEN STONES, 13th BATTALION YORK AND LANCASTER REGIMENT (1st BARNSLEY PALS). KILLED IN ACTION 15th JUNE 1917 AGED 29 From Ancestry Harold Stones was another Ilkley Pal who had originally enlisted in 'A' Company 9th West Riding Regiment, on 31st August 1914. Throughout 1915 and into 1916 the Ilkley Pals served in the trenches in the Ypres sector where Harold developed rheumatism and was sent back to England to recover. In 1916 he returned to his old unit   now fighting on the Somme where he was wounded sufficiently seriously to be sent to recover in a military hospital in Glasgow. Upon his return to France in 1917 he would have had to endure the notoriously fierce discipline at the base depot at Etaples. Harold probably expected to return to his old unit, but instead was allocated as part of a draft to the 13th York and Lancasters a Pals battalion raised in Barnsley. The battalion had suffered grievously during the Somme Battles the pr...

CORPORAL 520 PHILIP FLETCHER DIXON, MACHINE GUN CORPS (MOTORS), 4 BATTERY. KILLED IN ACTION 8th JUNE 1917 AGED 25                                                             Courtesy Andrew Bolt  Philip Dixon was born in Hobart, Tasmania on 19th March 1892. His father, John, had taken employment as a schoolmaster and with his wife and son lived on Upper Argyle Street. John and his wife were originally from Ilkley and a few years after the birth of their son decided to return to the town and took a house at 2, Ashburn Place. The family were committed Quakers who worshipped at the Meeting House on Kings Road and although Philip was educated at Ilkley Grammar School he was later sent to the Quaker boarding School at Ackworth in Pontefract.   In the years leading up to the outbreak of war Philip had been apprenticed to a...

PRIVATE 37277 CHARLES EDWARD LAYFIELD, 11th BATTALION WEST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT. KILLED IN ACTION 7th JUNE 1917 AGED 21 Courtesy Linda Layfield In the Spring of 1917 as the Arras Offensive petered out, the British High Command turned their attention to planning a new summer offensive on the Western Front. The Allies were still looking for the elusive breakthrough, the Arras campaign had in the end failed and the French Nivelle Offensive on the Chemin des Dames had ended in disaster and mutiny. The French Army could no longer be relied upon to sustain an attack and the onus for offensive action now rested with the British. Fear of a total French collapse pursued field Marshall Haig to propose a new attack in the Ypres area. However, before such an operation could be undertaken the Messines Ridge would have to be taken. The ridge although rarely exceeding 80 metres in height ran south of the Ypres and in the flat featureless terrain of the area afforded views across the B...

LIEUTENANT EDWIN RHODES BOTTOMLEY, ROYAL FIELD ARTILLERY (ATTACHED ROYAL FLYING CORPS). KILLED IN ACTION, 2 nd JUNE 1917, AGED 22 On August 5th 1914, Edwin Bottomley and his older brother George, went to the drill hall on Leeds Road, Ilkley to enlist in the 4th West Riding Brigade, a territorial unit of the Royal Field Artillery. This units 'D' Battery of Howitzers was based in Ilkley and many men from the town were members.   Edwin Bottomley was born in Bradford on 23rd F ebruary 1895 but as a child he came to live with his parents and brother at 'Fieldhurst' on Denton Road, Ben Rhydding. He began his education locally, but at the age of thirteen he was sent as a border to Shrewsbury School. A few weeks before the outbreak of war Edwin obtained a position at the firm of Lucian Marcans Successors, in Bradford. After just a few weeks Edwin left the 4th West Riding Brigade as he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Field Artillery. Officer t...

CAPTAIN CHARLES CECIL STANFIELD, 3rd BATTALION THE EAST KENT REGIMENT (THE BUFFS). DIED 31st MAY 1917. AGED 33 Cecil Stanfield came from a notable and wealthy family from Bradford who had made their fortune as the issuer of stamps for the Inland Revenue. Born the son of Charles and Blanche Stanfield in a large house at Apperley Bridge, the family moved to Ilkley when Cecil was very young. After living at various houses across the town they eventually took residence at   The Red House on Parish Ghyll Drive. As a young child, Cecil, attended Ghyll Royd a prep school in the town before being sent to the famous public school at Shrewsbury. In 1903 Cecil attained matriculation for Oxford University and was sent to Exeter College. Graduating from Oxford in 1907 Cecil's immediate movements are unknown, however, by 1910 he had been gazetted as 2nd Lieutenant in the 3rd Battalion, The East Kent Regiment. The choice of this regiment may have been influenced by the family’s decisio...