PRIVATE 999 EDWARD COLLINGWOOD WINTLE, 15th BATTALION WEST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT (LEEDS PALS)


PRIVATE 999 EDWARD COLLINGWOOD WINTLE, 15TH BATTALION WEST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT (LEEDS PALS). KILLED ACCIDENTLY 8TH FEBRUARY 1916, AGED 20


In early September 1914 Joe Prince from Leeds persuaded his best friend, Edward Wintle, to enlist with him into the army. Edward's parents were understandably concerned about his welfare but Joe assured them that he would look after their youngest son. This was a promise that Joe Prince would live to regret making.



Together, the two friends travelled to Leeds and enlisted into a newly created battalion which was being formed in Leeds. Officially it was called the 15th Prince of Wales Own (West Yorkshire Regiment), unofficially it was known as the Leeds Pals. After training in England the battalion was posted to Egypt arriving just before Christmas 1915. The Suez Canal was under threat from Turkish invasion and the Leeds Pals were to defend this vital artery of the Empire.


On the 8th February 1916 the two friends returned from a patrol with the rest of their platoon and sat down to clean their rifles. Contrary to regulations Joe did not unload his rifle first and accidentally discharged it, shooting Edward who was mortally wounded and died before he could receive medical attention. The following day he was buried with full military honours, the first Leeds Pal to die on active service. It is said the Lt-Colonel Stead, the commander of the battalion, wept at the graveside saying repeatedly “my poor boy, my poor boy”. Joe Prince was taken into custody and later court martialed but his sentence was light and he would survive the war achieving the rank of sergeant., 
Edward was born Chesterfield in 1895 the youngest son of solicitor Thomas Wintle and his wife Margaret. The family moved to Ilkley and lived at Hazelmere, 1 Tarn Villas and Edward was educated at the Wharfedale School and later Ilkley Grammar. After leaving school he had worked for the Liverpool, London and Globe Insurance Company at their Bradford office.


 Today Private Edward Wintle lies in Kantara Military Cemetery near Port Said, Egypt and is remembered with pride on the war memorials at St Margaret’s and on our town memorial.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2nd LIEUTENANT LEONARD FOSTER, 15th BATTALION WEST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT (LEEDS PALS BATTALION) DIED OF WOUNDS 13th AUGUST 1916 AGED 28.

Image
2 nd LIEUTENANT LEONARD FOSTER, 15 th BATTALION WEST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT (LEEDS PALS BATTALION) DIED OF WOUNDS 13 th AUGUST 1916 AGED 28. On the morning of the of the 1 st July 1916, the opening day of the Battle of the Somme, one thousand men of the Leeds Pals awaited the signal to leave the relative safety of their trenches and advance towards the German trenches situated a few hundred yards away in the remains of the village of Serre. Days of heavy British shelling had reduced the landscape to a sea of craters and it was blithely assumed that the enemy wire and trenches had been obliterated. At 7.30am precisely whistles blew and the Pals climbed out of their trenches and began to fan out before starting their deliberate advance towards the German lines. But contrary to their expectations the enemy had not been subdued and instead rushed to man their firing lines and opened up a deadly hail of machine guns bullets. The Leeds men now moving forward in lines walked steadily...
Read more

2nd LIEUTENANT GERALD HARMER, 9th BATTALION NORTH STAFFORDSHIRE REGIMENT. KILLED IN ACTION 11th AUGUST 1916 AGED 21.

Image
2 nd LIEUTENANT GERALD HARMER, 9 th BATTALION NORTH STAFFORDSHIRE REGIMENT. KILLED IN ACTION 11 th AUGUST 1916 AGED 21. The 9 th North Staffs. spent much of the Spring and Summer of 1916 in the Somme area of the Western Front preparing for the planned offensive which the Allied High Command hoped would win the war. As a designated pioneer battalion the Staffordshires served a dual role, on the one hand as trained infantry, whilst on the other they had the necessary skills to accomplish important construction and engineering jobs which were a feature of static trench warfare. The battalion avoided the dreadful events of July 1 st , the beginning of the great Somme battle and busied itself just behind the front line constructing roads, trenches as well helping to bury the huge toll of dead from the heavy fighting. On the night of 10 th -11 th August 1916 the 9 th Staffs were in the front line near to Bezantin le Petit and sent out three companies to help widen and d...
Read more

LIEUTENANT HENRY COWARD, 1st BATTALION BORDER REGIMENT DIED OF WOUNDS 20th APRIL 1917 AGED 37

Image
LIEUTENANT HENRY COWARD, 1st BATTALION BORDER REGIMENT DIED OF WOUNDS 20 th APRIL 1917 AGED 37 In mid April 1917 Henry Coward wrote to his father describing his first taste of action on the Western Front and his sorrow that his battalion was now moving out of the front line and away from the fighting. Although, he had joined the army in the early days of the war his experience as a teacher and Officer Cadet training meant that his skills were utilized to train new recruits. Henry was born in Sheffield in 1880 the son of the famous conductor Henry Coward (later Sir) and his wife Louise in a large house in the best suburb of the city. His father was the conductor of the prestigious Sheffield Choral Society and had an international reputation. Like his father, young Henry excelled at music and was a noted classical scholar and sportsman, playing football and cricket and was also proficient at both swimming and wrestling. He attended the Wesley College in the City and from t...
Read more