Ilkley in The First World War by Edward Wild

  2nd Lieutenant Lawrence Cave Blencowe. 1/10th Battalion Kings Liverpool Regiment (Liverpool Scottish) Killed in Action 29th June 1917 aged 30 Lawrence Cave Blencowe ran a small school called Orleton at Arden Croft in Ilkley. Originally from Northamptonshire he had attended St Edwards School in Oxford and later Queens College Oxford University where he won a blue for Rugby Union. He also played for the Harlequins club in London and Headingley in Leeds. A regular with Yorkshire RUFC he had several trials for the full England XV. He may have been attracted to the town because of its excellent rugby reputation having provided 3 members of the pre war England team. Newly married in 1914 he waited until 1915 to enlist as a private in the West Yorkshire Regiment. He was commissioned in 1916 and joined the 10th Kings Liverpool Regiment which also included Ilkley resident and England player Jack King. Lawrence was killed on the 29th June 1917 whilst leading his platoon in a daylight trenc...

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...

PRIVATE 77570 HUGH McALISTER ALLAN-BLACK 9 th BATTALION ROYAL FUSILIERS (LONDON REGIMENT) KILLED IN ACTION 8 th AUGUST 1918 AGED 19 The youngest son of John Allan-Black and his wife Claire, Hugh was born in the hamlet of Stone Gappe near Lothersdale in the Craven District on the 25 th May 1899. His father was a wool merchant whose father Charles Ingham Black was a noted Irish scholar and poet and formally the Vicar of Burley in Wharfedale. His mother Claire nee Delius was the sister of the famous conductor Frederick Delius of Bradford and who in 1935 would write his biography. When Hugh was very young the family moved to Victoria Avenue in Ilkley where he attended the grammar school. However, in 1914 the family left the town and moved to Castletown on the Isle of Man where Hugh attended King Williams College. Hugh left school in 1917 when he achieved the age of 18 and enlisted into the army. His health was not of the strongest and he appears to have suffered from a w...

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...

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...

SERGEANT THOMAS HARPER WHITAKER. 1 st BATTALION NIGERIA REGIMENT, WEST AFRICAN FRONTIER FORCE. DIED 29 th JANUARY 1918 AGED 37 Harper Whitaker was born in Horsforth in 1881 the son of a stone contractor Thomas Whitaker and his wife Anne. One of twelve children he and his family lived in a large house called Summerfield, on New Road Side. A pupil at Ilkley Grammar School he went on to study civil engineering and during the early years of the 20 th Century went to work on the Lagos Railway in Nigeria. He was in the colony at the outbreak of war in 1914 and made an application to join one of the locally raised regiments who would see action in nearby German controlled Cameroon. However, because of the essential nature of his work he remained at his post with the railway company. By 1917 local West African units had been formed into the West African Frontier Force (WAFF) and sent across the continent into East Africa where they were to assist in the long running campai...

LANCE CORPORAL 1962 HENRY SCOTT (HARRY) CRYER, 1/6 th BATTALION WEST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT. KILLED IN ACTION 19 th AUGUST 1915, AGED 28. It was at about 10.30am on the 19 th August 1915 that Lance Corporal Harry Cryer went into a dugout in the reserve lines of the 6 th West Yorkshire Regiment who were in position to the north of Ypres. As he roused one of the occupants a German shell landed on the parapet of the trench killing Harry instantly. Harry was born in Muswell Hill, London in 1897 the eldest son of Walter and Mary Scott who both originated in the West Riding. His father seems to have been involved in a number of business ventures in London and Essex but by the early 1900s he had brought his family back to Yorkshire. The family came to live in Ilkley and for a number of years occupied a house on St James Road and Harry attended Ilkley Grammar School. By 1911 the Cryer family were living on Duckworth Grove in the Girlington area of Bradford and Harry was employed ...

CAPTAIN GEOFFREY SKIRROW 2/4 th BATTALION KINGS OWN YORKSHIRE LIGHT INFANTRY (Attached). KILLED IN ACTION 27 th 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 62 nd (West Riding) Division had only arrived in France in 1917 and was recruited largely from the old West Riding of Yorkshire. Its ...

PRIVATE 12904 LAWRENCE SYLVESTER ROBINSON SCOTT, 2 nd BATTALION WEST RIDING REGIMENT. DIED 7 th APRIL 1920, AGED 25. Lawrence Scott enlisted into the ‘Ilkley Pals’ Company which had been formed in late August 1914 after a recruiting meeting held in the Kings Hall on Station Road. During his service he was wounded on three occasions, but his death almost 18 months after the war had ended, would shock the town. Born in Skipton in 1894 Lawrence was one of four children of John Scott, a brewer, and his wife Emily. The family moved to Ilkley in 1911 and took a house on Sunset View off Leeds Road (now called Sunset Drive) before moving on the West View on Wells Road. He was sent to school as a boarder at Denstone College, Staffordshire before attending University College, Durham where he hoped, after his studies, to take Holy Orders. The start of the war interrupted his studies as he enlisted, with many men from Ilkley, into the 9 th Battalion West Riding Regiment. The ‘P...

PRIVATE 434909 EDWARD RENDER, 50 th BATTALION CANADIAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE. KILLED IN ACTION, 18 th NOVEMBER 1916, AGED 20. Born in Ilkley on the 22 nd November 1895 Edward was the son of William, a mason, and Margaret Render who lived at 9, Dean Street. In 1909 the family decided to emigrate to Canada and left aboard the Empress of Britain, bound for Quebec moving to the town of Medicine Hat in Alberta. Edward’s father appears to have died not long after arriving in Canada and he lived with his mother and sisters 658 8 th Street SE and worked as a carpenter. Edward enlisted into the Canadian Army on the 6 th of February 1915 and was posted to the 50 th (Calgary) Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. His unit arrived in Britain in October 1915 where it remained until August 1916. Posted to the Somme Sector on the 18 th November that year, the 50 th were in the front line near to the village of Courcellette where it was involved in a successful attack again...

PRIVATE WILLIAM (BILLY) HAYWOOD 1/7 th BATTALION DURHAM LIGHT INFANTRY. DIED (INFLUENZA) 23 rd FEBRUARY 1919 AGED 19. In mid February 1919 young William Haywood arrived home on leave from his unit which was stationed in Belgium. Clearly very ill with what was soon diagnosed as influenza his condition deteriorated, pneumonia set in and within a week he was dead. William was born in Ilkley in 1899 the eldest son of Joseph and Clara Haywood who lived at Springs Cottage on Springs Lane. Joseph was a carter and a staunch Methodist who worshipped with his family at Christchurch on The Grove. Every Sunday afternoon William would help the younger members of the congregation with their reading and help out in the little Sunday School. He was also member of the local Volunteers Company based at the Drill Hall on Leeds Road. The Volunteers were a sort of WW1 equivalent of the Home Guard and were made up of young boys under military age waiting call up along with older men too old t...

GUNNER/SHOEING SMITH, 776142 WALTER THIRKELL, 245   BRIGADE ROYAL FIELD ARTILLERY. DIED (INFLUENZA), 3 rd MARCH 1919 AGED 28 Walter Thirkell was another victim of the flu pandemic which struck over the winter of 1918-19. At the end of February 1919 he had been released from the army after serving throughout the war. His skills as an engine fitter on the railways were urgently needed in peacetime Britain and so his discharge was brought forward. He had only been back with his parents at 6 Springs Terrace when he developed symptoms of flu which progressed to bronchial-pneumonia from which he succumbed on the 3 rd of March. Born in the village of Carnforth, Lancashire, Walter was the youngest of 12 children born to William and Elizabeth Thirkell. His father worked on the railways as a foreman fitter on the Midland Railway and when Walter was very young brought his family to Ilkley. Walter too would work for the Midland Railway like many of the male members of his famil...

SERGEANT 65137 EDGAR EARNSHAW, 1 st BATTALION NORTHUMBERLAND FUSILIERS. DIED (INFLUENZA) 27 th FEBRUARY 1919 AGED 25. Edgar Earnshaw was born in West Ardsley, near Wakefield, on 31 st October 1893, but moved to Ilkley at the age of 5 to live 31 Middleton Road when his father became the organist and choirmaster at Christchurch on The Grove. His parents John and Annice had 7 children in total but 6 of them had died in infancy leaving Edgar the sole survivor. A pupil at Ilkley Grammar School where he represented the school at cricket, Edgar was also a musical prodigy. An accomplished violinist, pianist and organist he also had a noted singing voice. During his childhood he won numerous competitions and awards across the north of England for his musical abilities and as an adult would give recitals, especially on the piano, often attended by hundreds of people. After completing his education he remained living with his parents and took a post as a bank clerk at the Yorkshi...

SAPPER 237847 WILLIAM CLIFFORD HABISHAW, 102 AIR LINE SECTION ROYAL ENGINEERS. ASPHYXIATED 29th DECEMBER 1918 AGED 31 Born at 4 Richmond Place, Ilkley in 1888 William was the son of Joseph Habishaw, a bath house attendant, and his wife Mary. The family would later move to a house on Belle Vue Terrace which they ran as a small lodging house. Educated locally, William trained as an electrical engineer but at the beginning of the war was employed as a turf accountant. In the aut umn of 1915 he married local woman, Margaret Moon and together they moved into Glenholme on Parish Ghyll Drive. William had originally enlisted into the West Yorkshire Regiment in December 1915 but his call up was deferred until May of the following year and in August 1916 posted to the Machine Gun Corps. By the spring of 1917 presumably because of his electrical engineering training was sent to join a signals company of the Royal Engineers where he learned to be a telephonist. William remained in B...

PRIVATE 57823 BADEN STANLEY LAMBERT, 4 th BATTALION EAST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT. DIED OF INFLUENZA 15 th NOVEMBER 1918 AGED 18 Born in Ilkley in July 1900, Baden was the son of joiner John Lambert and his wife Elizabeth. The youngest of twelve children of whom only seven survived the family lived at 43 Wellington Road. Upon reaching the age of 18 he was conscripted into the army and sent to a training unit before being assigned to the 4 th East Yorkshire Regiment who were based at Sculcoates near Hull and it was here that he died from influenza on the 15 th November 1918. The army returned Badens body to his family and today he lies in the towns cemetery and is remembered with pride on our war memorial. Photo courtesy James Cooper

PRIVATE 10123 JAMES CLARKSON, 2 nd BATTALION WEST RIDING REGIMENT. DIED 14 th NOVEMBER 1918, AGED 23 James Clarkson had enlisted into the Regular Army in 1911 or 1912 when he joined the 2 nd Battalion of the West Riding Regiment. The battalion were mobilised at the outbreak of war and went to France on 16 th August, however, James did not join his them until the following month when he had reached the age of 18. In this initial phase of the war battles were fought across open country but by November 1914 both sides began to dig the trenches along the front line that would define the war. That month james and his battalion were in the front line east of Ypres. It was here that on the 8 th he was hit in the head by a bullet which entered beneath his left eye, passed through his tongue and lodged in his jaw. Evacuated from the front he was sent St Gabriels Hospital in London for treatment. Writing of his exploits he would describe blood thirsty bayonet attacks on the Ge...

PRIVATE 47052 WILLIAM JAMES (JIMMY) ELLIS, 15 th BATTALION DURHAM LIGHT INFANTRY. DIED OF WOUNDS, 10 th NOVEMBER 1918 AGED 22. As the First World War drew to its close then so too did the life of young Jimmy Ellis, who died in the 19 th Casualty Clearing Station in France the day before the Armistice was signed. His final hours were recorded by the Rev. W A Parrott, a Wesleyan Chaplain at the hospital, who sat with him as his life ebbed away. Jimmy knew that he would not survive the gangrene that infected his body and as he prayed with the chaplain, placed his life into God’s hands. His final words were for his family and his sweetheart before he peacefully died. Back home as news of the Armistice became known Jimmy’s family would have been unaware of their son’s tragic death. Their own feelings about the end of the war would in any case have been tempered by the memories of another son, Charles, who had been killed in May 1915 whilst serving his country. Lister El...

LIEUTENANT LESLIE PEVERIL SUTCLIFFE, ROYAL ENGINEERS. DIED FROM INFLUENZA, 4 th NOVEMBER 1918 AGED 27. It was late October 1918 that Leslie Sutcliffe arrived in the little town of Smithers high in the Rockies Mountains of British Columbia. As the days shortened and winters grip began to take hold he rented a room at a boarding house in the town. His general health was already poor and now he was suffering from the effects of influenza, probably Spanish Flu. Within days his condition worsened and he succumbed to this deadly disease on the 4 th of November. Born in Sowerby Bridge on 3 rd August 1892 Leslie was the second son of Henry and Kate Sutcliffe. His father was a prosperous solicitor and wool merchant who was able to send his sons to boarding school, in Leslies case first to Sedburgh and then Uppingham where he was a member of the Officer Training Corps. After School instead of taking a place at university as might be expected of a boy from his background he went ...