WILSDEN SOLDIERS IN THE GREAT WAR (J – M)

James Gill Jackson

James was born in Wilsden on 31 July 1895, the youngest child of Ellen and George Jackson, a quarryman, of 64 Brown Lee Lane. He had six older siblings, Annie, Joseph, Mary, Martha, Alice and John

On leaving school he became an apprentice joiner to Albert Pratt. He was called up in January 1916 and trained as a range-finder before being sent to France the following January. In June 1917 he was sent home to hospital in England with Trench Fever.

James’ older brother John also served in WW1.

SURVIVED

After the war James married Florence and they lived at 15 Anderson Street, then Tynecroft, Tweedy Street. He became a builder and contractor and they had two children.

(Bradford Weekly Telegraph 15.6.17)

(Harecroft Chapel Roll of honour)

John George Jackson

407 Agricultural Coy, Labour Corps 531691

John was born in Cullingworth in 1893, the sixth of seven children of Ellen and George Jackson, a stone quarryman.

By 1911 the family was living at 64 Brown Lee Lane and John was working as a plasterer.

He married Lillian Greenwood in November 1915, and he was called up in May 1916 joining the RFA.

John was transferred to the 407 Agricultural Coy of the Labour Corps in September 1917 following a month’s convalescence from bronchitis for which he spent 16 days in hospital. He served in England throughout the war,

John and Lilian had three children, Stanley (born near the end of the war) and Geoffrey and Margaret (born after).

John’s younger brother James also served in WW1.

SURVIVED

John continued to be a plasterer after being demobilised at the end of January 1919, and he and Lilian lived at 65 Main Street, Wilsden.

(Harecroft Chapel Roll of honour)

(1919 Naval & Military vote)

(Pensions Rec)

Sam Jackson

then 17th Bn Duke of Cambridge’s Own (Middlesex) Regt 3007

Sam was born in Wilsden on 12 September 1889, the youngest child of Mary Ellen and Sam Jackson. Mary Ellen was widowed before Sam jnr was a month old.

He had six older siblings; Florence, Ethelbert, Sarah, Hubert, Percy, Thomas.

By 1891 the children were living, with their mother at 2 Oak Street, Wilsden. Ten years later they were at 22 Bents Foot and after another ten years, in 1911, they had moved to Cutler Heights in Bradford. Sam was a woolcomber.

Sam enlisted on 2 September 1914, a month after war was declared and spent 46 days in the York & Lancaster Regt before he was discharged as ‘not likely to be an efficient soldier’. For a while he went back to the mill as a warehouseman.

In August 1915 he married Ethel Macdonald and they lived at Cross Lane in Bingley.

Sam signed up again in November 1915, this time he was assigned to the Middlesex Regt. He was sent to France the following May and a year later, in May 1917, he was wounded in the left shoulder which took him back to hospital in England until September. He was killed by a German trench mortar shell exploding in his front-line trench.

DIED 27.12.17 aged 29

(Soldiers Died in Great War)

(Service Rec)

(Bingley cenotaph)

Walter Jackson

Walter was born in Bradford in 1892. He had an older sister, Mary. At the time of his enlistment in February 1916 his parents, George (a dyer’s labourer) and Clara were living at 18 Club Row, Wilsden.

He married Edith and they had one child. Walter joined the 21^st Battalion which was the ‘Wool and Textiles Pioneers’ recruited mainly from the textile mills of Halifax. Walter had been a card-jobber at Cottingley Mills. He was sent to France in June 1916 and survived the Battle of the Somme including the first day on July 1^st which was so destructive of Kitchener’s New Army.

Walter was killed by a shell burst whilst returning from night duty on 6^th May 1917 during the Third Battle of the Scarpe (part of the Battle of Arras)

DIED 6.5.17 aged 26

(Wilsden War Memorial)

In 1901 William was a farm hand, living at Norr Farm and was a carter on reservoir works (probably Chellow Dean).

By 1911 Hannah and William were living with his elder sister Martha Ann, who had married Joseph Stringer, and their family at 116 Main Street. William was now a worsted weaver.

William and his nephews Harold and Samuel Stringer in the same household all served in WW1.

SURVIVED

William went back to live with the Stringers, at 116 Main Street, for about three years when he had been demobilised. Samuel also survived but Harold was killed a couple of months before the armistice.

(1918 Naval & Military vote)

Willie Jackson

Willie was born on 2 May 1898 at 1 Firth Lane, the eldest child of Hannah and Carey Jackson, a collier.

In 1902 Carey had deserted the family and Hannah took him to court to provide for Willie but they were later reconciled.

Willie enlisted just after his eighteenth birthday and was called up a year later in February 1917. Until then he had been a strong box minder and lived with his parents at 1 Moorside Road. He served in Malta.

SURVIVED

Willie married Elizabeth Abbott in 1922, they had three children Arthur, Mona and Donald.

(Service Rec)

George Norman Gay Jennings

George was born in Wilsden in early 1894 the only child of Ellen and Hollings Jennings, dressmaker and warp dresser respectively.

When he joined up at the end of January 1916 he was living in Tunstall near Stoke-on-Trent and was a bank clerk. His parents were still in Wilsden. He served in England until he was sent to France in March 1918.

In June 1918 George was sent back to hospital in Paisley for seven weeks due to a shrapnel wound in his shoulder. He did not return to the front.

SURVIVED

After the war George returned to Wilsden to live with his parents at 19 Crack Lane and he was still living there, and working as a bank clerk, when he married Amy Moore in February 1930.

(1918 Naval & Military vote) (Service Rec)

Thomas William Jennings

Thomas was a ‘wool extractor’ for G. Rhodes and Sons, Allerton.

He enlisted into the Army at the end of December 1916 and was sent to France the following April. In November 1917 the Bradford Weekly Telegraph reported that he was in hospital in Portsmouth suffering from trench feet and rheumatism in his hands.

SURVIVED

Thomas lived with his mother and step-father at 278 Main Street when he was demobilised. His occupation was woolpacker at his marriage to Frances Florence Edris Dolphin (known as Edris) in September 1922.

Thomas and Edris lived at 105 Main Street.

(1919 Naval & Military vote)

(Bradford Weekly Telegraph 16.11.17)

Arthur Preston Johnson

Born in Scarborough in 1900, Arthur was the son of Lily and Joseph Johnson, a traveller in the cigar and cork trade. He had three younger sisters, Joyce, Lily and Sheila.

In 1911 the family was living at 33 The Norr, they moved to Coplaw (now Coplowe) Farm during the war. Arthur enlisted in Keighley in November 1917 just after his 18^th birthday. He was killed in action in France on 26 August 1918.

DIED 26.8.18 aged 18

His name is commemorated on the Vis-en-Artois memorial which bears the names of over 9,000 men who have no known grave and who died between 8 August 1918 and the Armistice three months later.

(Wilsden War Memorial)

George Rufus Jowett

SURVIVED

After the war he married Ellen Horrocks and by 1939 they lived at Buttershaw, George was a wool warehouseman.

(Conservative Club Roll of honour)

(1918 Naval & Military vote)

William Henry Jowett

William was the youngest child of Nancy and Henry Jowett, a joiner. William was born at 6 Chapel Row in 1880, his older siblings were; Florence, Fred, Ephraim and John. The family moved to Keighley before William was 13. He was a Fitter for textile machinery prior to his enlistment.

William was killed, along with four other soldiers and an officer, by rifle-launched grenades falling on his trench near Aix-Noulette in France

DIED 23.3.16 aged 36

(Soldiers Died in Great War)

Kenneth Benjamin Kaberry

Born 1897 in Keighley, Kenneth was the son of Annie and Jacob Kaberry, a plasterer. He had a younger sister Alice who was born when the family lived in Cockermouth.

On leaving school he became an apprentice brass finisher and the family moved back to Keighley at the start of WW1.

When Kenneth was seventeen he was one of the senior scouts employed to guard the reservoirs at Ponden and Sladen, The government was fearful, at that time, of the water supply being poisoned.

He was called up in December 1915. In February 1918 Kenneth was given a medical discharge due to a heart problem. He returned to live with his parents and they all moved (in 1922) to 124 Main Street.

SURVIVED

In June 1927 Kenneth married Amy Hannam at the Central Wesleyan Chapel in Wilsden and together they ran a bakery and confectioners at 124/ 126 Main Street. They had two daughters, Joan and Margaret. Kenneth’s parents lived next door at 122.

(Pension Rec)

Snowden Keighley

M.M.

Snowden was born in Cottingley in early 1888, the youngest of eight children of Betty (nee Snowden) and James Keighley, a quarryman. His older siblings were; Abraham, Harriet, Esther, John, Joseph, William and Fred.

By 1911 Snowden was living with his sister Harriet and her husband John Wood and their young son at Crapps Hall, Wilsden (now called Northfields Hall). There was another household also living there, Snowden’s brother John and wife and daughter. At this time Snowden was working as a pin setter for a wool comb manufacturer.

He enlisted just before Christmas 1915 and was sent to Egypt. His battalion was moved to France and in September 1917 he was awarded the Military Medal for ‘conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty in the front line, Mericourt sector, during an attempted enemy raid. Although wounded in the arm by the opening bombardment he remained at his post and kept up a persistent fire on the enemy with his Lewis gun, showing much pluck and coolness under heavy enemy fire. It was not until two hours afterwards, when everything was quiet, that he consented to leave his post to have his wound dressed’. On 12 April 1918 Snowden was reported missing. His body was never found and a year later he was declared dead.

DIED 12.4.18

(Bradford Weekly Telegraph 19.10.17)

Ernest Harold Kendall

The eldest son of Mary and Benjamin Kendall, a joiner, Ernest was born in Wilsden on 14 July 1893. He had a younger brother, Joseph and a younger sister, Dorothy.

In 1911 Ernest lived with his family at 17 Dewhirst Street and he was a worsted weaver.

Both Ernest and his brother Joseph served in WW1. During the war the family lived at 210 Main Street.

Ernest enlisted in December 1915 and was discharged on medical grounds in September 1918 after being wounded.

SURVIVED

In 1921 Ernest married Ruth Nicolson. They lived at 4 Victoria Street.

(Conservative Club Roll of honour)

(1919 Naval & Military vote)

(Bradford Weekly Telegraph 22.12.16)

Joseph worked in a worsted mill.

Both he and his brother Ernest served in WW1, during which time the family lived at 210 Main Street.

SURVIVED

In 1922 Joseph married Ivy Blanche Taylor, they went to live at 1 Albert Street and they had seven children, Benjamin, Ethel, Jack, Irene, Margaret, Frances and Evelyn.

(1919 Naval & Military vote)

Percy Kershaw

Percy was born in Wilsden in December 1894 the son of Mary Ann Kershaw. She married John Dobson before Percy was four years old. He had two half-siblings.

Percy signed up for the Territorials (6 West Yorkshire Regt) in 1911 at the age of seventeen and was called up on 5 August 1914, the day after war was declared. Prior to this he had been working as a dyer’s labourer for E. Ripley Ltd. at Addison Road, Bradford.

Percy’s battalion was sent to France in May 1915. He was discharged, having fulfilled the period of his engagement, at the beginning of January 1916.

SURVIVED

(Pension Rec)

SURVIVED

After the war Arthur married Edith. They lived at 12 Stone Terrace, Harden, and his brother Harold and family lived next door at no. 10.

(Harden Parish Council)

Walter Leader

Walter was born in Stanningley on 30 October 1873, the fifth of six children of Rose Ann and George Leader, a blacksmith.

He joined the Army (Lincolnshire Regt) prior to the Boer War (in which he served). He married Eleanor Beanland in 1906 and they lived at 254 Main Street. Walter worked as a warehouseman at Ambler & Sons Prospect Mill in Wilsden until joining the Army again in September 1914. He was sent to France but had to be sent back to England that winter due to bad Trench Feet. He then spent two and a half years in Egypt before returning to France and he was reported missing on 27^th July 1918. He had been taken prisoner of war.

SURVIVED

After the war Walter worked for Hanson’s Soap works at Royd Mill.

(Bradford Weekly Telegraph 20.9.18)

He lived in Shipley until the war, working in a glass works, and both he and his older brother Walter enlisted. Their father died in 1916 and their mother moved to 3 Fir Street, Wilsden. This is the address to which both brothers returned after the war.

SURVIVED

Charlie married Florence in the years after the war and they had one child. They lived at Brown Lee Lane, Harecroft for several years.

(1918 Naval & Military vote)

Joining up when war broke out probably seemed a good idea. His younger brother Charlie also enlisted.

Their father died in 1916 and their mother moved to 3 Fir Street, Wilsden. This is the address to which both brothers returned after the war.

SURVIVED

After the war Walter married Rose Ellen and became a woolcomber. They had one child. In 1939 they were living at 5 Fir Street.

(1918 Naval & Military vote)

Maurice Henry Limb

Maurice was born in Ashbourne in Derbyshire on 1 May 1898, the only child of Susannah and David Limb, an inspector of works for the railways. By 1911 Susannah had been widowed and returned to Yorkshire to live with her father and brother, George and James Hardy, at Harrop Lane Farm, Wilsden.

Maurice won a place at Keighley Trade and Grammar School in 1910 followed by a surveying and engineering apprenticeship with Bingley UDC, which was interrupted by the war.

SURVIVED

In September 1924, Maurice married schoolteacher Doris Pedley in Haworth. At this time he was living in Scarborough where he was a civil engineer working for Scarborough Corporation. He subsequently came back to Bradford and worked for the City of Bradford engineer and surveyors department.

(1918 & 1919 Naval & Military vote)

(Harecroft Chapel Roll of honour)

In 1911 the family lived at Heaton and Harold was at still at school but also running errands for a Chemist’s

SURVIVED

After the war he lived at 2 Queens Court, Wilsden, with his sister Annie who had married Wilsdener Robert Varley in 1919. Their mother Betsy, now a widow also lived with them.

Harold became a plumber. He married Marjorie Mann in 1922, in Silkstone near Barnsley. They had two daughters, Jean and Lilian

(1919 Naval & Military vote)

Arthur Lund

Arthur was born in Wilsden on 3 February 1884, the son of Louisa and Albert Lund, a miner. He had a younger sister, Florrie born in 1891 by which time their father, Albert, was a weaver. Their mother, Louisa, died when Arthur was 10 and Florrie was 3, leaving Albert to raise them alone. They lived at Honeypot Cottages but by the time Arthur went to enlist in Bradford they had moved to Allerton. Prior to this he had been working as a painter and paper-hanger for his uncle, Thomas Tetley.

Arthur was killed in action on 3 May 1917 at Fampoux, Arras, aged 33, his body was never found and he is commemorated on the Arras memorial.

DIED 3.5.17 aged 33

(Wilsden War Memorial)

John was born in Wilsden in 1883, he had an older brother Edgar and an older sister, Alice. Their father William was a farmer at Birchenlea Farm but he died soon after John’s birth and their mother Mary Grace Lund was left to run the farm herself with the help of the farm servant whom she married in 1892 when they left the farm. In 1911 they were living at 8 Queen Street, Wilsden. John’s occupation was stone mason.

He married Edith Ackroyd in 1914. They had a daughter Mary, and lived at 134 Harecroft until the 1930s.

John enlisted in December 1915 but was called up two years later in December 1917. He was a dyer’s labourer until that time.

In the army he qualified as a signaller, he was sent to France in July 1918

SURVIVED

John returned to Harecroft. By 1939 he had become a grocer living next to the shop at 2 Station Road/143 Harecroft

(Harecroft Chapel Roll of honour)

(Service Record)

(1918 & 1919 Naval & Military vote)

SURVIVED

He married Mary Oliver at Cullingworth in April 1921, a double wedding with her sister also getting married the same day. John had returned to being a warp twister after the war and was living in Braithwaite, Keighley. They subsequently lived in Keighley.

(Harecroft Chapel Roll of honour)

(1918 & 1919 Naval & Military vote)

Tom Macer

Tom was born in Morley on 18 February 1898, the son of Emily and Charles Clay Macer, a plate layer at a colliery. He had a younger brother, Arthur.

SURVIVED

After the war Tom worked as an engineer for the GPO. He married Hilda Sutcliffe in 1924 and they one son, Donald. They lived at first in Hunsworth but by 1930 they had moved to 11 Crack Lane, Wilsden where Tom and Hilda lived for the rest of their lives.

George Mackwell

George was born in Allerton on 17 November 1879, the son of Alice and John Mackwell, a joiner. He had two older siblings, Alexander and Grace, and five younger sisters, May, Florrie, Edith, Lucy and Jane. They moved to Spring Hill, Wilsden in the year after George was born, then mother, Alice died in 1885.

George became a joiner like his father. He married Jemima Robertshaw in April 1901 at St Matthews Church.

In 1911 George, his wife, and their eldest son, Jack, were living at 264 Main Street. George’s two youngest sisters also lived with them.

At the start of WW1 they were living at 17 Dewhirst Street, by now they had a second son, Herbert. George attested in December 1915 and was called up the following August. He was sent to France in April 1917.

SURVIVED

At the end of the war George came home to 20 Flax Hall. His wife Jemima died in June 1920 and George married Susannah (Susan) two years later.

(Conservative Club Roll of honour)

(Service Rec)

Joseph Malley

then 50^th Railway Coy, Royal Engineers WR/276350

Joseph was born in Leeds on 9 January 1882, the son of Margaret and Joseph Malley, a store-keeper. Joseph jnr. had an older step-sister Laura (his father had been married before) and three older siblings, Margaret, Elizabeth and Patrick, plus a younger brother, John Edward. By 1901 the family lived at The Butts, East Morton.

Joseph jnr. married Wilsdener Ethel Wouldhave at Bradford Register Office in July 1909 (Joseph was catholic, Ethel was probably protestant) and they lived at Thornbury where he was an engine tenter for a paper tube manufacturer. They had two sons, Ronald, born before the war, and Leslie during the war.

Joseph was called up in June 1916 and was sent to France in October the same year.

He was initially in the West Riding Regt and had been promoted to Lance Corporal but a month after that he was transferred to the Royal Engineers in May 1917, finishing in the Railways Operating Division as loco cleaner.

SURVIVED

Still on active service, on 1 May 1919 Joseph was made up to lance corporal again, but the very next day, back in Wilsden at 6 Cranford Place where Ethel and the children now lived, his eldest son Ronald died of diphtheria. Joseph was given a quick demobilisation and got home at the end of May. He became a mill engine tenter again.

Ethel and Joseph had a daughter, Sylvia, in 1928.

(Service Rec)

Charles Gretten Malpas

Charles was born in Cardiff on 27 March 1883 the third of six children of Ann and Thomas Malpas, a domestic gardener. He had siblings Catherine, William, Frederick. Ellen and Beatrice and he became a baker on leaving school but then followed his father and became a gardener. In 1901 the family lived in the gardener’s house at ‘Green Lawn’ owned by a consultant surgeon, at Penylan, Cardiff.

Charles married Ada Jarrold on New Years Day 1908 at Roath near Glamorgan.

Charles was arrested in Swansea in 1912 and bound over for being ‘on enclosed premises’ He and Ada had two sons, Godfred, born in Wales, and Thomas, born in Wilsden, at 6 Club Row. In July 1915, two months after Thomas’ birth, Charles was called up.

Charles was sent to France in April 1916, he got a gun-shot wound to hand and finger in first few weeks of the Battle of the Somme. He was sent back to hospital in England and a year later was put on the ‘P’ Reserve (though wounded he might be re-called). He was given a medical discharge on 14 Jan 1918, at which time he was living back with his father at ‘Green Lawn’, Penylan,

SURVIVED

Charles became a gardener again.

(Service & Pension Rec)

(St Matthew’s Church Baptism Reg)

(Keighley News 8.7.16)

John McGuire

then Royal Air Force 402651

John was born in Bradford in 1872.

He married Araminta Brown in November 1902 in Keighley.

In 1911 they lived, with their four children, Hilda, Redmond, Mary Jane and Thomas, at 11 Dewhirst Street. John was working as a weaver. A fifth child, Edward, was born in 1912.

Before WW1 he was living at 2 Moorside Road, Wilsden and working as a fitter. He joined up, at the age of 42, on 28 September 1914, soon after war was declared. John was initially in the WRR but he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, where he was a general fitter, at the beginning of 1917 and served in the Middle East from then until after the Armistice.

SURVIVED

At the end of the war the family was living at 11 Lister Villa. After a couple of years they moved next door (no.15) and they were still living there when John died in 1928. Araminta continued to live there until at least WW2.

(1918 Naval & Military vote)

Thomas McHugh served as Thomas Stone

Thomas was born in Wilsden in 1892. He was the eldest of three children of Emily Amelia Stone and Thomas McHugh, a plasterer. Although she took the surname McHugh they were not married. The relationship did not last long and she married Edward Thomas in 1899 in Keighley. They had another six children, half-siblings to Thomas jnr.

Thomas jnr became a turner for Prince, Smith & Son, machine makers in Keighley, and signed up (as Thomas McHugh) to the Territorials in May 1909, when he was seventeen. He was living in Oakworth at that time.

During the next four years he reverted to using the surname Stone and was married under this name to Faith Bullock in Keighley in February 1913. They lived in Windhill, Thomas was by now a blacksmith. Their son James was born in the following year.

When war was declared Thomas, still in the Territorials, was called up and signed (as Thomas Stone) for overseas service on 19 September 1914. He was posted to France in June 1915 and was killed fifteen months later following a successful attack on the Hindenberg Line, however in the retaliatory shelling the following day, Thomas and another four men were killed and seventeen were wounded.

DIED 17.9.16 aged 24

(Service Rec)

Arthur Mehew

Arthur was born in Wilsden, the eldest son of Robert Mehew, a house-painter and Mary Mehew, a worsted weaver. He had two younger siblings, Charles and Amy, and an older half-brother, Ralph. The family lived at 18 Flax Hall, Wilsden, but their mother, Mary, died in 1904.

Arthur worked at Drake’s Foundry at Great Horton prior to his enlistment on 10 August 1914 as soon as Britain declared war on Germany. He made it nearly all the way through, serving in the Dardanelles, then Egypt, and later on the western front.

DIED 27.8.18 aged 23

(Wilsden War Memorial)

Charles William Mehew

Charles was born in Wilsden at the end of 1897. His father was a house painter. His mother, Mary, died in 1904.

When Charles enlisted he served initially in Palestine, then in France.

The Keighley News, 14 April 1917 reported “Rifleman Charles William Mehew, West Yorkshire Regt, son of Mr Robert Mehew of [18 Flax Hall] Wilsden, has been wounded in the chest by the bursting of a shell on Good Friday, while on active service, and is now in hospital at Newcastle-on-Tyne. He has written home telling how he was in the front line, about 150 yards away from the enemy who were dropping shells thick and fast. One dropped in the shell-hole where Mehew was along with some others. The corporal and two men were hit, and Mehew was asked to fetch a stretcher. When he got 100 yards away he felt his chest pain him, and found out he had been hit. However, he went forward to the first dressing station and reported to the captain. The corporal’s wound ended fatally, but Mehew is getting on as well as can be expected. He is 19 years of age and joined the colours on October 12 of last year, having been in France since the beginning of January. He previously worked for Messrs. Joseph Wilkinson & Co, Bradford, as a plate-glass beveller.”

SURVIVED

His brother Arthur also served in WW1 and was killed in action in August 1918. Half-brother Ralph Hockney also served, and survived.

(Conservative Club Roll of honour)

Charlie Mehew

Charlie was born at 13 Anderson Street, Wilsden, in 1890, the son of Frank and Betty Mehew, his parents only having recently moved to Wilsden from St Neotts in Huntingdonshire. He had one older sister, Ada, and was the second son of five; George, Charlie, Frank, Harry and Sidney. They were cousins to Arthur and Charles Mehew. The family moved to Ovenden and by 1911, Charlie had joined the Army and was training as a groom with the DoW Regt at Carrdaker Military Barracks, in Hampshire. Within three weeks of war being declared he was in France.

He was killed in action on 9 October 1917. His body was never found.

DIED 9.10.17 aged 27

SURVIVED

At the end of WW1, John lived with his parents who had moved to 2 Honey Pot Cottages, Wilsden at the start of the war, and he stayed there until he married Mabel Spawforth, in April 1922, at Manningham. His occupation at the time of his marriage was motor driver. By 1939 he was a taxi proprietor living in Heaton and they had a daughter, Joan, born in 1924.

(1919 Naval & Military vote)

Frank Midgley

Frank was born in 1890 in Great Horton, son of Martha and Nathan Midgley, a dairy farmer. Frank’s link to Wilsden is through his father who was born there and other members of his family continued to live in Wilsden. Frank was killed by field artillery a week before the Armistice.

DIED 4.11.18 aged 28

He is buried at Cross Roads cemetery, a few kilometres east of Cambrai in France.

(In memoriam gravestsone Scholemoor cemetery)

(IWM)

Charles Minn

Charlie was born in Bradford on 15 October 1899, the son of Clara and Harry Minn, a mason’s labourer. He had three siblings, Fred, Milly and Maud. By 1911 they had moved to Cullingworth then, during the war, to 2 Spring Hill, Wilsden.

Charlie enlisted on the day after his 18^th birthday. He had been employed at Ling Bob Mill by Worth & Ox Spinners as a Card Jobber. In July 1918 he was hospitalised for a month with burns to his face and right hand, , when his Sergeant set fire to some small pieces of cordite which he thought ‘dangerous to be lying about’ and accidentally dropped them off the window ledge into the dug-out where Charlie was sleeping. He re-joined his unit, but on 12 October 1918 he received a severe gunshot wound to the head, involving his chin, eye and skull, and died 15 days later on 27 October 1918, twelve days after his 19^th birthday.

DIED 27.10.18 aged 19

(Wilsden War Memorial)

Fred Minn

Fred was the eldest child of Clara and Harry Minn, a greengrocer, (later a mason’s labourer and then a plate layer on the GNR). Fred was born in Bradford on 30 January 1895 and had three younger siblings, Milly, Charlie and Maud. Their mother, Clara, died in 1908.

By 1911 Harry had taken his children to live in Cullingworth and Fred was working as a mule spinner.

In the next three years Fred emigrated to Australia.

He signed up to the AIEF on 18 August 1914, just after war had been declared, and arrived with his Battalion in the Dardanelles at the beginning of 1915. He was wounded twice during that year and, after recovering, served with the 1^st Australian General Hospital where he had been treated.

In March 1917 Fred transferred to the 12^th Field Ambulance and went back to France until September 1918 when he was sent back to Australia.

During the war Fred’s father Harry and the rest of the family moved to 2 Spring Hill, Wilsden.

Both Fred and his younger brother Charlie served in WW1.

SURVIVED

Fred survived but Charlie (who was in the British Army) died of wounds at the end of October 1918

(1918 Naval & Military vote) (Australian WW1 archive)

Laban Mitchell

Laban was born in Wilsden in 1892 the son of Sarah and Robert Mitchell. He had two younger sisters, Rhoda and Emily. Their mother died when Laban was in his teens and his father re-married. They had another son, Ernest.

Laban followed his father into being a joiner.

He was married to Maggie Butler in late summer 1915 and enlisted into the Army in October 1915.He transferred to the RFC in July 1916 where he worked as an aero rigger.

Both of Maggie’s brothers, Arthur and Fred, also served in WW1. Arthur was killed in 1917.

SURVIVED

Laban and Maggie lived at 6 Birkshead in 1919, then they lived for several years at 20 Flax Hall.

(1919 Naval & Military vote)

Thomas James Mitchell

James was born in Wilsden, the son of Thomas Mitchell, a grocer and draper at 207 Main Street and his second wife, Eliza. He had three sisters, Florence, Hilda and Norah, but James was the youngest, being born on 21 June 1896 when his father was already 59.

James secured a place at Keighley Trade and Grammar School and went on to study at Leeds University where he joined the Officers Training Corps. He went to France in August 1915 and he gained his commission that same November. He was killed in an attack on Maltz Horn Trench in the Trones Wood area of the Somme near Contalmaison on 10 July 1916. His body was never recovered.

DIED 10.7.16 aged 20

(Wilsden War Memorial)

Clifton Moore

Clifton was born and brought up in Allerton, Bradford on 17 August 1878. He was the eldest son of Ada and Henry Moore, a grocer and yeast-dealer.

Clifton had three younger siblings, Luther, Alice and Hanson.

He worked in the wool carding room of a local mill.

Married Sarah Ann Waddington in 1906

They had three daughters, Ada, Agnes and Mary.

In 1911 the family lived in Barkerend, Bradford, but by the time he enlisted, in September 1916, they were living in Armley, Leeds.

SURVIVED

By the end of the war, when Clifton was demobilised, Sarah Ann and their daughters had been living at 3 Queens Court, Wilsden. Clifton then only appears in Wilsden once on the 1919 electoral register but Sarah Ann and the girls continued to live at Ling Bob until 1936. He may have moved to Marsden and they remained married although not living together. He re-appears on records in 1939 in Dewsbury.

(1919 Naval & Military vote) (Service Rec)

Edward Moore

Edward, (Ned) was born at Dewhirst Street in 1896, the eldest son of George Moore, a mill mechanic, and Sarah, a twister in a worsted mill. He had four siblings; William, John, Nellie and Emma. When he left school he joined his father working at Hanson’s Soap Works, George was their Engine Tenter and Edward boxed the soap. He later became a mule spinner in a worsted mill.

The family had moved to 4 Cranford Place by the time Edward enlisted. He served in the trenches during the summer and early autumn of 1916, but the conditions exacerbated a childhood kidney complaint and in September 1916 he was brought back to England suffering from nephritis. A year later he was discharged from the Army and sent home to his family who were now living at 2 Well Street.

Edward never recovered his health and on 18 April 1919 he died of kidney failure at his home, with his mother by his side.

DIED 18.4.19 aged 22

(Pension Record)

(Wilsden War Memorial)

Tom Moore

Tom was born in Wilsden in 1894, the son of Emily and Tom Moore a carter. He had a younger sister and brother, Beatrice and Angus. The family moved to Sandy Lane then Heaton, and by 1911 they were at Lime Street, off Westgate in Bradford. Tom junior was working on the railway when war broke out and he joined up straight away, and was made up to Sergeant during his nearly four years combat in France and Flanders.

DIED 28.7.18 aged 23

(Soldiers Died in Great War)

In 1901 the family lived at 5 Paradise View, this is probably where Frank was born. By 1911 they had moved to 77 Main Street where they continued to live throughout and after the war. Frank’s two older brothers George and Herbert also served in WW1.

SURVIVED

After the war Frank became a chauffeur.

In October 1927 he married Ivy Crabtree at the Central Wesleyan Chapel in Wilsden.

(1919 Naval & Military vote)

George Harry Morris

George was born on 4 June 1891 in Northamptonshire, the eldest of eight children of Lois and Ernest Morris, a stone mason (later a woolcomber). By the time George was four, the family was living in Wilsden. His younger siblings were: Ada, Annie, Herbert, Frank, Clara, Sarah Ellen and Arthur.

George became a warp twister. He married Pollie Inman at Linton Parish Church in July 1914 and they lived at 36 Main Street, Wilsden.

He was called up in April 1916 and was sent to France in November of the same year following two months release for farm work, harvesting.

George’s brothers Herbert and Frank also served in WW1.

When George was wounded in the arm the following May, he was sent back to England. He did home service until being sent to France again in October 1918.

SURVIVED

(Service Rec)

Herbert Morris

Herbert was the fourth of eight children of Lois and Ernest Morris a wool comb minder. He was born in Wilsden in 27 May 1897. His older siblings were George, Ada and Annie and his younger ones were Frank, Clara, Sarah Ellen and Arthur.

By 1911 the family lived at 77 Main Street where they remained throughout the war. Prior to joining up, at the end of 1915, Herbert had been a wool drawing overlooker. Following training, he was sent to France a year later.

His brothers George and Frank also served in WW1.

SURVIVED

Herbert continued as a drawing overlooker and he married Emily Staveley in Bingley in 1922. They lived in Bingley and had a son, Vincent

(Service Rec)

Leonard Wade Mortimer

Leonard was born in Wilsden on 24 March 1899, the eldest child of Alice and Abraham Mortimer, a card grinder for a woolcomber. Leonard’s younger siblings were Minnie, Harry, Doris and Frank.

At the time of WW1 Leonard lived with his parents at 262 Main St. He had been working as a mule minder when he was called up in April 1917. He served in India and South Africa.

SURVIVED

In June 1924 Leonard married Edith Clark and they lived at 2 Shay Gate. They had two children, Ruth and Betty.

(Conservative Club Roll of honour)

(Service Rec)

John Thomas Morton

John was born in Bailiff Bridge, Brighouse on 19 December 1886. He was the second youngest child of Ann and Thomas Morton, a stuff presser. His older siblings were; Elizabeth, Edna, Martha, Albert, Ellen, James and Sam, and his younger sister was Annie.

John became a stuff presser for a dyeing and finishing company, like his father.

He married Frances Beatrice Rushton in April 1912 in Brighouse and they were living at 132 Harecroft when he joined up in May 1918.

The Royal Marine Artillery served as part of the army in the field but was separate from the army. They had twelve 15” howitzers (nicknamed ‘Grannies’) each with a crew of 60 men and each was moved around the front by three steam lorries.

SURVIVED

After the war John returned to Harecroft and continued in his previous occupation as stuff presser.

(Harecroft Chapel Roll of honour)

Abraham Myers

then 59 Coy Labour Corps 13490

‘Abram’ was born in Allerton in 1884. He was the fourth child of Elizabeth and George Myers, a quarryman. Before Abram was eight the family had moved to Wilsden. His siblings were; William, James, Mary Ellen, Joseph, Alfred, Lily and Ethelbert. All the boys played in Wilsden Band.

By 1911 the family lived at 11 Albert Street. Their father, George died two years later.

Abram was called up in May 1916 and was sent to France in January 1917 where he stayed until September 1919, well after the war had ended. His younger brother Alfred also served in WW1 and was killed two months before the armistice.

SURVIVED

Abram continued to live at 11 Albert Street until 1925. He worked as a stone dresser. He married Florence McGarry, a widow, in 1927 and gained two step-

sons Albert and Francis. They lived in Cottingley.

(1919 Naval & Military vote)

(Service Rec)

John Alfred Myers

Alfred was born at Wilsden, the son of George and Elizabeth Myers. Theirs was a large family; William, James, Mary Ellen (known as Cissie), Abraham, Joseph, Alfred, Lily, and Ethelbert. Father, George, died in 1913 and Elizabeth moved the family to 11 Albert St. Alfred became a mule-spinner but enlisted in September 1914 soon after war had been declared. They discharged him after a month, due to his “not being likely to become an efficient soldier.

Alfred went back to the textile mills, he now took up an apprenticeship as a weaving overlooker.

In September 1916 he was called up. By the end of December he was in France, where he was to stay until his death nearly two years later.

This extraordinarily long spell in France was probably due to his being an experienced cornet player, he may well have been responsible for playing the bugle calls such as Reveille and Last Post. It was also usual for bandsmen to act as stretcher-bearers for their regiment.

DIED 9.9.18 aged 26

(Wilsden War Memorial)