Apart from the men who are interred or commemorated at Wainsgate who died in the two World Wars, there are others connected with Wainsgate who served in the armed forces:

Click on the LINKS to find out more…..

THE WAINSGATE ROLL OF HONOUR

Lists the names of 72 men from ‘Wainsgate Baptist Chapel, Wadsworth’ who served in ‘The Great War 1914-8’: thirteen of them were killed, two had emigrated to the USA and Canada but enlisted to fight with the Allies, and two appear to have been munitions workers or doing other essential war work.

THE STORIES OF THOSE WHO SERVED:

Albert Elliott ARMSTRONG MM

Awarded the Military medal in 1916, while serving in France with the King’s Royal Rifles. Buried at Wainsgate.

Frederick Willie ARUNDEL

Served in this country during WW1 with the 23rd Provisional Battalion, probably because of his small stature. Commemorated on the Wainsgate Roll of Honour.

Tom Crossley ASHWORTH

Served in the Royal Navy during WW1. Commemorated on the Wainsgate Roll of Honour.

Wilbert COLLINGE

Served with the Machine Gun Corps in Egypt, from 1917 to 1919. Buried at Wainsgate.

James Edward FISHER

Munitions worker in Newcastle in WW1. Commemorated on the Wainsgate Roll of Honour.

Amos GREENWOOD

Known to have been serving with the West Riding Regiment in October 1914. Commemorated on the Wainsgate Roll of Honour. Buried at Wainsgate.

Wallace HOOD

Born in Wadsworth, emigrated to America in 1910. Served as a baker in the US Army in WW1 and worked in the ‘Calship’ military shipyard in WW2. Commemorated on the Wainsgate Roll of Honour.

George Felix ILLINGWORTH MC

Captain in the Royal Field Artillery, died in Paris in 1937.

John William KERSHAW

Possibly doing essential war work at the Ferodo factory, Chapel-en-le-Frith during WW1. Commemorated on the Wainsgate Roll of Honour. Buried at Wainsgate.

Albert Edward PICO

Born in Liverpool, emigrated to Canada in 1902, returned to Britain in 1916 to enlist with the Royal Army Veterinary Corps. Buried at Wainsgate.

Albert POTENTIER

Born in Todmorden, served in the 2nd Bn. Coldstream Guards: 4th Ashanti War 1895/6. Canadian Expeditionary Force in WW1. Died in Canada, commemorated on the Wainsgate Roll of Honour.

Joseph Henry REDDIHOUGH

Failed to get exemption from conscription and served with the Royal Garrison Artillery in the Middle East in WW1. Commemorated on the Wainsgate Roll of Honour. Buried at Wainsgate.

John SAGER

Served as a Pioneer in the Royal Engineers Carrier Pigeon Service in WW1. Commemorated on the Wainsgate Roll of Honour. Buried at Wainsgate.

Hezekiah SHAW

Born in Wadsworth, Corporal of Horse, 1st Life Guards – died in London in 1862, buried at Brompton cemetery but commemorated at Wainsgate.

Percy Oswald SUNDERLAND

Served in WW1 with the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment, and later in Italy with the Machine Gun Corps. Commemorated on the Wainsgate Roll of Honour. Interred at Wainsgate.

The Roll of Honour is displayed in the chapel, and lists the names of 72 people (as far as we know all men), all presumably associated with the chapel and Sunday school, who served in the First World War. Thirteen of those listed died during the war, and their stories are told in WAINSGATE’S WAR DEAD.

The four flags are those of four of the Allies (apart from the United Kingdom) which formed what was known as the Quintuple Entente – France, Japan, Russia and Italy (although the Russian flag is shown upside down). Interestingly the flag of the other principal Allied power, the United States, is not shown on the Roll of Honour, despite at least one person having served in the US Army.

The Roll of Honour has a name in the bottom right corner, presumably that of the artist: W.A.HARDMAN. DEL.

The document is written in a variant of Old English script, and some of the capital letters have faded, so some of the names are hard to decipher: the 72 names are listed below, with links to the stories behind the names:

Click on the LINKS to find out more…..

C. ARNOLD

F. W. ARUNDEL (assumed to be Frederick Willie ARUNDEL)

A. ASHWORTH (Albert Ashworth, brother of Willie Ashworth?)

Ernest ASHWORTH

Private, 2^nd Bn. South Lancashire Regiment. Reported missing 10th April 1918, age 33.

Lawrence ASHWORTH

R. ASHWORTH

Reginald ASHWORTH

Tom C. ASHWORTH (assumed to be Tom Crossley ASHWORTH)

T. R. ASHWORTH (assumed to be Thomas Roger ASHWORTH)

Private, 2^nd Bn. Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding Regiment). Killed in action 18th April 1915, age 35.

Vernon ASHWORTH

Rifleman, 18^th Bn. King’s Royal Rifle Corps. Killed in action 20th September1917, age 19.

W. ASHWORTH (assumed to be Willie ASHWORTH)

Private, 10^th Bn. West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales’s Own). Died of wounds 13th October 1918, age 22. 

Fred BANCROFT

J. H. CLARKSON (assumed to be John Henry CLARKSON) (c1886-1930)

Son of John and Hannah Clarkson, born in Wadsworth c1886, died in Mytholmroyd 1930, aged 44. Married Alice Smith 1910. Military service uncertain: possibly served with West Riding Regiment or King’s Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment). His father John Clarkson is buried in plot F819.

Dennis COLLINGE (1888-1978)

Dennis was born in 1888, the son of Thomas Collinge, a farmer and his wife Ellen of Far Nook, Wadsworth. During the war he served as a Private in the Leicestershire Regiment and later in the Notts & Derby (Sherwood Foresters) Regiment. He married Minnie Meadowcroft in 1919: she died in 1955 aged 65, and Dennis died in 1978 aged 89, and they are both buried in plot J756. He was a Sunday School superintendent, and appears on the photograph taken in 1924.

John R. DALE

J. E. FISHER (assumed to be James Edward FISHER)

A. GIBSON

A. GREENWOOD

Amos GREENWOOD

F. GREENWOOD (Snr)

F. GREENWOOD (Jnr)

J. GREENWOOD

J. E. GREENWOOD

J. T. GREENWOOD

J. W. GREENWOOD

W. GREENWOOD

Albert HADDINGTON (1894-1975?)

Born in Bradford 1894. Enlisted in 1915, aged 21, the son of Mary Haddington of Old Town Hall cottages. Served as a driver in the Royal Field Artillery until the end of the war. After the war lived at Green’s Square, Pellon, Halifax, and is believed to have died in 1975.

Ed W. HAIGH (assumed to be Edward William HAIGH) (1900-1983)

Born in 1900, the son of Thomas and Sarah Haigh, brother of Harry Haigh. Married Eva Sutcliffe in 1929. Died at Hordle, Hampshire in 1983, aged 82. Military service uncertain.

N. HARWOOD

Herbert HELLIWELL

Wallace HOOD

Herbert HORSFALL

J. H. HORSFALL (assumed to be James Hervey HORSFALL)

Private, 2^nd Bn. Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding Regiment). Reported missing 3rd May 1917, age 27.

Albert JACKSON

J. W. KERSHAW (assumed to be John William KERSHAW)

Edgar PARKER (1878-1931)

Born in 1878, the son of David and Melinda Parker of Club Houses, Old Town and later of Broughton Street, Hebden Bridge. A cotton and fustian weaver by trade, in 1915 he married Elsie Parr, the daughter of Curtis Litchfield Parr, a coach builder from Derby. Edgar and Elsie had one son, Wilfred (or Wilfrid) Litchfield (or Lichfield) Parker, born in 1916.

No record can be found of Edgar’s service during WW1. He died in 1931, aged 53 and Elsie died in 1943, aged 56. They both lived at 20 Broughton Street, Hebden Bridge at the time of their deaths, and are both buried at Wainsgate in plot G705: the grave is marked only with a marker stone with the initials E.P.

J. T. PICKLES

Albert POTENTIER

Fred REDDIHOUGH (assumed to be Fred RIDDIOUGH?)

J. H. REDDIHOUGH (assumed to be Joseph Henry REDDIHOUGH)

A. A. REDMAN

E. REDMAN (assumed to be Ethelbert REDMAN)

Private, 1^st/7^th Bn. Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding Regiment). Died of wounds 10th March 1918, age 37.

N. REDMAN

W. N. REDMAN

J. LAGAR (asumed to be John SAGER)

Alfred SAINSBURY

Arthur SELLARS

Son of Alice and the late Robert Sellars of Parrock Head (buried in plot J750). Enlisted in 1915, aged 19, served in Royal Field Artillery in France until the end of the war. Married Doris Illingworth in 1920.

A. H. SMITH

Fred SMITH

W. SMITH

F. SOUTHWELL (assumed to be Fred SOUTHWELL)

Private, 9^th Bn. Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding Regiment). Died of wounds 25th August 1918, age 27.

W. SOUTHWELL (assumed to be Willie SOUTHWELL)

Private, 9^th Bn. King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. Killed in action 4th October 1917, age 20.

G. SOWDEN (assumed to be George SOWDEN)

Private, 2^nd Bn. Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding Regiment). Died of wounds 10th April 1917, age 39. 

James SOWDEN

Lance Corporal, 2^nd Bn. Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding Regiment). Killed in action 18th April 1915, age 33.

R. SOWDEN (assumed to be Richard SOWDEN, brother of George and James)

A. SUNDERLAND (assumed to be Archibald SUNDERLAND)

Private, 9^th Bn. Lancashire Fusiliers. Killed in action 16th August 1917, age 32.

C. L. SUNDERLAND (assumed to be Clarence Ingham SUNDERLAND)

Rifleman, 18^th Bn. King’s Royal Rifle Corps. Killed in action 30th June 1916, age 20.

E. SUNDERLAND (assumed to be Eddison SUNDERLAND)

Born in 1893, the only child of Thomas and Sarah Sunderland, before the war he was employed as a cotton weaver, and from 1915 to 1918 served as a Private with the 2nd/4th Bn. Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding) Regiment. He was discharged in April 1918 under Para 392 (xvi) of King’s Regulations – ‘No longer physically fit for service’.

In 1922 he married Sarah Elizabeth Greenwood, and died in 1925 at Heath Royd Nursing Home, Halifax, aged 32. He is buried with his parents in plot F800/801, the plot marked by an imposing polished black granite obelisk. He was a Sunday School superintendent, and is commemorated with a small brass plaque in the chapel and a framed photograph displayed at Wainsgate.

P. O. SUNDERLAND (assumed to be Percy Oswald SUNDERLAND)

W. SUNDERLAND

W. L. SUNDERLAND (assumed to be Wallace Lindsey SUNDERLAND)

C. SUTCLIFFE

Ellis SUTCLIFFE

Private, 6^th Bn. The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment. Died of wounds 15th March 1917, age 21.

R. S. SUTCLIFFE

W. N. SUTCLIFFE

A. THOMAS

B. THOMAS

T. WARDLE (assumed to be Thomas WARDLE)

Thomas was born in 1893, the son of Harry Wallace Wardle and his wife Maria (born Duckworth). In 1911 the family were living at Rock, Wadsworth, and 17 year old Thomas and his father were both fustian weavers. No details of his military service have been found. In 1927 he married Emma Wolfenden, and in 1939 they were living at 11 Heptonstall Road: he was a heavy woollen (blanket) weaver and she was a wholesale clothing machinist. Harry Wallace Wardle and Maria Wardle, together with a daughter Phyllis who died in 1909 aged 26 days, are buried at Wainsgate (plot B367a).

Frank WHITAKER

Born in Denholme in 1894, the son of Sandy and Sarah Whitaker, who in 1911 were living at Midgehole Farm. Enlisted in 1916 aged 21, when he gave his occupation as ‘Horseman’, he served as a gunner in the Royal Garrison Artillery. Frank married Eva Thornton at Slack Baptist chapel in October 1920, and died in January 1922 aged 27. Buried in plot G706 with his wife, who died in 1935 aged 39, and their daughter Ruth Whitaker, who died in Darlington in 1978 aged 57.

Percy WHITAKER

Possibly the older brother of Frank Whitaker, born in 1891.

I. T. WILCOCK

Fred WINTERS

Albert Elliott ARMSTRONG MM (1879-1965)

Albert Elliott Armstrong was born in 1879, eldest son of Thomas Armstrong, a fustian cutter from Manchester, and Esther (born Schofield) who was born in Almondbury, Huddersfield. Albert was living with his widowed mother at 46 Windsor Road, Hebden Bridge and working as a mechanic when, aged 36, he enlisted in the 18th (Service) Bn. King’s Royal Rifles.

He was awarded the Military Medal while serving in France in 1916 for ‘Bravery in the field’.

His younger brother Louis Armstrong, who had also enlisted in 1915, was killed on 2nd January 1916 in France, aged 26.

Albert married Mary Ann Butterworth in 1923, and in 1939 was a corn salesman living at 1 Stocks Avenue, Mytholmroyd, where he died in 1965 aged 86. He is buried in plot C594 with his parents and his wife. The headstone also commemorates his brother Louis and two siblings who died in infancy, Louisa and Robert Bruce Armstrong.

Frederick Willie ARUNDEL (1898-1972)

The son of Frederick (also known as Fred or Frederic) and Lily Ann (born Bowers) of Waterloo Bank, Old Town. Born in 1898, his name was registered as Fredric Willie Arundel. Frederick enlisted in 1916, aged 18, and expressed a preference for joining the Royal Field Artillery as a driver. His enlistment papers record his height as 5′ 2″ and his expanded chest measurement as 33½”. At the start of the war, the minimum requirements were 5′ 3″ and 34″, but by 1916 these had been lowered: he joined the 23rd Provisional Battalion, and his medical classification is stamped ‘Garrison Service Home’, presumably because of his small stature. He appears to have spent his wartime military service in this country.

Frederick married Ellen Chatburn in 1922 (although his name was registered as Frederic), and died in Blackpool (as did both of his parents) in 1972, aged 74 (his name this time was registered as Fredrick Willie Arundel). The family grave, plot B258a, is marked by a grey granite cross: his brother Edward died in 1897 aged 2 and his sister Elsie died in 1922 aged 22. His parents are commemorated on the memorial, but are not in the burial register, so may be interred in Blackpool with Frederick.

In 1914, men under 5′ 3″ in height who were otherwise fit, healthy and eager to join up, were turned away by recruiting offices. This led to Alfred Bigland, MP for Birkenhead, asking Lord Kitchener for permission to set up a special unit of short statured soldiers: by the end of the war 29 ‘Bantam Battalions’ as they were known, had been set up – over 30,000 men. Notable Bantams were Billy Butlin (who served with the Canadian Expeditionary Force) and the poet and artist Isaac Rosenberg, author of ‘Poems from the Trenches’, who was killed near Arras in April 1918.

Find out more about the ‘Bantam Battalions’ here, here and here.

Tom Crossley ASHWORTH (1895-1964)

Born 26th February 1895, the son of Crossley and Annie (born Greenwood) Ashworth of Wainsgate. Annie died on 10th November 1895, aged 32, and in 1901 Crossley Ashworth was living at Wainsgate with his second wife Mary (born Pickles), his son Tom and his daughter Alice: although aged only 48, Crossley Ashworth was recorded as being a ‘retired farmer’. In 1911 his second wife and daughter Alice had both died, and he and 16 year old Tom still lived at Wainsgate: both had their occupation recorded as ‘Private Means’.

Tom served in the Royal Navy from 4th November 1915 until the end of the war, initially as an ordinary seaman and later as an able seaman (AB). Some of his time was spent at Vivid I, the Royal Navy Seamanship, Signalling & Telegraphy School in Devonport, and he also served on HMS Antrim (a Devonshire class cruiser used for North Atlantic convoy escort duties), and HMS Ramillies (a Revenge class battleship, launched in 1916, which saw no combat during WW1). His previous occupation is listed in the Royal Navy Register as ‘gardener’.

In 1926 Tom married Rose Gregson, and in 1939 they were living at ‘Wainsgate Poultry Farm’ (now known as Wainsgate Farm) with Rose’s parents: Tom’s occupation is unsurprisingly recorded as ‘poultry farmer’. Tom’s father Crossley Ashworth died in 1946 aged 93, and Tom died in 1964 aged 69. Crossley Ashworth’s two brothers, first two wives and daughter Alice are all buried in plot B132a/133a, which was bought by Crosssley in 1892, but there is no mention of Crossley or Tom on the headstone, nor in the burial register – their final resting places remain a mystery.

Wilbert COLLINGE (1892-1963)

Born in Heptonstall, the son of Fred Collinge, a joiner, and his wife Mary Hannah, Wilbert enlisted on 28th February 1916 – he was an unmarried farmer, aged nearly 24, living in Heptonstall. His military records show that he married Edith Harwood on 1st April 1916, and the name of his next-of-kin was changed from his father to his new wife.

Wilbert served as a Private with the 21st Squadron (Cavalry Brigade), Machine Gun Corps in Egypt, arriving in Alexandria on 5th August 1917 and finally leaving from Port Said on 9th February 1919. He seems to have been hospitalised several times with illness (including dysentry) while in Egypt, although he was examined in Damascus prior to his demobilisation and found to be not ‘suffering from a disability due to my military service’.

The 1939 Register records Wilbert’s occupation as ‘Joiner Army Hut Builder‘ and Edith’s as ‘Northrop Loom weaver’.

Wilbert died in 1963 aged 71, and is buried in Plot B286a/287a with his wife’s parents Freeman and Eliza Harwood and their son Albion Harwood, who died in 1912 aged 22. His wife died in 1971 aged 84: her name is recorded in the burial register but not on the headstone, although it is probable that she was interred with her husband and family.

The headstone also records two children: Cedric Ivor Collinge, son of Edith & Wilbert who died in 1923 aged 1 year & 8 months, and ‘also an infant’.

The unnamed infant is possibly Kenneth Harwood of Pecket Well, who was buried on 17th February 1916, aged 12 days. Records show that his mother’s surname was Harwood, so he could have been the child of Edith and Wilbert before they were married. Wilbert enlisted less than two weeks after Kenneth’s death, and a few weeks later Edith and Wilbert were married.

After Wilbert returned from the war they had a son Cedric Ivor, who died in 1923 before his second birthday: there is no record of them having any other children.

James Edward FISHER (1894-1976?)

Son of Pearce and Eliza Fisher, born in Hebden Bridge, in 1911 he was aged 17 and living with his parents and sister (his parents had eleven children, only six of whom were still living) at 21 Lee View, Hebden Bridge, and was working as a cotton weaver.

Pearce (his name is sometimes spelt Peace) and Eliza Fisher are buried in plot C621, which was bought by Eliza when Pearce died in 1920, aged 65. Eliza died in Stansfield View Infirmary in 1932, aged 76.

Four of their eleven children are believed to be buried in plot B292a, although the grave is unmarked: Edgar died in 1883 aged 1, a child (possibly Lewis) died in 1892, just 2 hours old, Ada died in 1897 aged 6 months and Margaret in 1899 aged 19 days.

In August 1916 James married Mahala Gertrude Bowker (daughter of William Bowker of Lane Top Farm, Blackshawhead) at Shore Baptist Chapel, Todmorden. His address at the time of his marriage was 291 Beaconsfield Street, Newcastle-on-Tyne, and his occupation was recorded as ‘munition worker, engineer mechanical’. No military records have been found that match this James Edward Fisher, so it is likely that he was employed in munitions work in Newcastle as an alternative to military service.

During WW1, Armstrong-Whitworth became the largest munitions firm in the world: their headquarters was the Elswick Works in Newcastle, which stretched for over a mile along the banks of the Tyne. The factory produced hydraulic machinery, guns, shells and ships. The company also owned the Walker naval shipyard and built aircraft at Town Moor. By the end of the war, Armstrong-Whitworth employed 78,000 people, 60,000 of them in and around Newcastle.

To learn more about the lives of munitions workers and the dangers they faced in their work, click here, here and here. Click this link for a history of the Elswick Works in Newcastle.

The 1939 Register records James as living at 9 Belle Vue Terrace, Sowerby Bridge with Mahala, two sons and a daughter: his occupation is unclear on the register, but is most likely ‘loom fitter’. Mahala died in 1961, aged 65, and in 1962 James married Elsie Millicent Pickles (born Sunderland) who had previously been married to William Pickles, who died in 1951.

James is believed to have died in 1976, aged 82: he probably died in Littleborough, but his burial place is not known. Elsie Millicent Fisher died on 15th January 1980, aged 86. She is not recorded in the burial register, but is commemorated on her family’s memorial (plot F772/773) with her parents Ada and Crossley Sunderland and her three brothers, Clarence Ingham Sunderland, Wallace Lindsey Sunderland and Percy Oswald Sunderland.

Amos GREENWOOD (1894-1954)

Born 7th June 1894, the son of Richard and Susannah Greenwood of Field Head Farm. Susannah Greenwood (born Redman) died at Shackleton Hill in 1906 aged 45, and Richard Greenwood died in 1909 at Storthes Hall Asylum, aged 54 (although the headstone inscription says 57): both are buried in plot B171a.

In 1911 the orphaned Amos, aged 16 and a cotton weaver, was living with his sister Ada and her husband Thomas Carter at Horsehold. He married Lilian Gladys Thornton on 3rd October 1914 at Slack Baptist chapel – he was aged 20 and she was 17. His address is recorded as 15 Osborne Street, Hebden Bridge, and his ‘Rank or Profession’ as Private, 4th Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment. Amos and Lilian married a couple of months after the start of the war, possibly just before Amos was sent abroad to fight, perhaps never to return.

Amos Greenwood survived the war and died in 1954, aged 59 and was buried on 13th May at Wainsgate – the burial register records his address as Top o’ Hill, Midgehole. The exact location of his grave has not been established – possibly he was buried with his parents in plot B171a, or perhaps with his sister Ada and her husband in plot F736.

There is no record of his wife Lilian in the Wainsgate burial registers – she died in Scarborough in 1987, aged 90, and is buried in Darlington West Cemetery with her daughter Janet Lilian Horsfield (1915-1982) and her son-in-law Frederick Horsfield (1915-2015). Lilian’s parents Janet and Daniel Thornton and her sister Ellen Gwendoline Thornton are buried at Wainsgate in plot G704.

Wallace HOOD (1896-1973)

Wallace Hood was born in Wadsworth on 21st June 1896, the son of Mark Hood, a wool sorter who was born in York and his wife Eliza (born Dewhirst). In 1901 the family were living at Old Town, but emigrated to America in September 1910, when Wallace was 14. They sailed from Liverpool on SS Merion arriving at Philadelphia on 10th October 1910. The ‘List or Manifest of Alien Passengers for the United States Immigration Officer at Port of Arrival’ recorded their intended final destination as Los Angeles, California, and that they were going to join Mark’s brother William who had already moved to California.

Wallace Hood became naturalised in 1916, and enlisted in the US Army on 26th July 1917, aged 21. Records show him embarking at Hoboken on Empress of Russia, presumably bound for Europe. The date of embarkation is 12th November 1918, a day after the signing of the Armistice. Wallace is recorded as a corporal in the ‘Field Bakery Company Number Twelve, QMC’, and his next of kin is his wife, Ruth L Hood of Tacoma, Washington. At the end of the war he was a Sergeant in the Quartermaster Corps, based at Bassens near Bordeaux, and returned from France in September 1919, sailing from Brest to Hoboken, New Jersey on USS Powhatan. His next-of-kin was recorded as his mother, Eliza Hood, and his residence as Riverside, California.

American recruitment posters from WW1: the first, by Fred Spear, references the sinking of RMS Lusitania in 1915. The other poster by Harry R. Hopps dates from 1917.

The census of January 1920 shows Wallace was lodging at the St.Paul Mill Hotel in Tacoma Washington, and working as a baker in the lumber mill, and a widower. He had married Ruth Lois Hall (born Gillihan, and married twice previously) on 15th January 1918: she died of pneumonia and influenza on 23rd December 1918, two days before her 28th birthday. On 22nd May 1920 Wallace married Rose Fraser (born in Oregon of Finnish parents) in Tacoma – they lived for the rest of their lives in California and had at least seven children.

The 1942 Draft Registration card shows Wallace living with Rose in Placentia, California and working at the California Shipbuilding Corporation (often referred to as Calship), a shipyard that was vital for the war effort, producing 467 Liberty and Victory cargo ships and Haskell class attack transports during WW2 and at its peak employing 40,000 men and women from all parts of the country, only 1% of whom had any shipbuilding experience.

Wallace Hood died in Orange County, California on 30th September 1973, aged 77: his wife Rose died in 1991, aged 89.

George Felix ILLINGWORTH MC (1889-1937)

Coming soon…..

John William KERSHAW (1884-1973)

Born in 1884 in Wadsworth, the son of William Kershaw, a stone mason, and his wife Elizabeth, in 1901 he was living at Rock, Wadsworth with his parents and younger brother and employed as a worsted spinner. He married Fanny Elizabeth Pickard in 1908, and in 1911 they were living at Boston Hill with their young son William Eric, and John was working as a fustian weaver.

Fanny died on August 9th 1915 aged 32, and is buried in plot F742: the burial register records her place of death as Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire and the receipt book records the plot being bought on 14.8.1915 by John W. Kershaw, Buxton.

No records have been found of John William Kershaw’s war service, but he was obviously living around Buxton and Chapel-en-le-Frith in 1915. One possibility is that he was working at the Ferodo factory in Chapel-en-le-Frith, which during the war made brake and clutch linings for tanks, armoured cars and other vehicles. Ferodo was the first company to use asbestos for brake linings, and in 1926 became part of Turner & Newall. He may have avoided the horrors of the trenches, but John (and his family) could well have been exposed to the insidious horrors of asbestos.

In 1920 John married Ethel May Ball in Fairfield near Buxton, and in 1939 they were living in Stocks Crescent, Mytholmroyd, where John was working as a ‘motor driver’.

Ethel May Kershaw died in 1943 at the age of 48, and John William Kershaw died in 1973 aged 88; he is buried at Wainsgate in plot F742 with his first wife Fanny Elizabeth. Fanny is also commemorated on the headstone of the adjacent plot (F770) where her parents, Richard and Ann Pickard are buried.

Albert POTENTIER (1871-1943)

Although he is not buried or commemorated in the graveyard, Albert Potentier is listed on the Wainsgate Roll of Honour and his parents and sister are buried in Wainsgate graveyard. He was born on 10th June 1871 in Todmorden, son of Arsene Voltaire (known as Walter) Potentier and his wife Catherine (born Hird). Like Hezekiah Shaw, he moved to London and joined the army – probably around 1890, when he was still in his teens.

Albert’s father was born Arsene Voltaire Potentier in Leeds in 1841, his grandfather, Arsene Potentier, was French and his grandmother, Mercy Smith, was born in Wetherby. His father’s birth name was registered as Arsene Voltaire, but he was baptised in Walsden in 1852 as Walter, the name that he used throughout his life. His death was registered in both names.

In 1891 he was a soldier in the 2nd Bn. Coldstream Guards, living at Wellington Barracks, Birdcage Walk. He is known to have taken part in the 4th Ashanti war, a brief conflict on the Gold Coast of west Africa which was one of the Anglo-Ashanti wars between the Ashanti Empire and the British Empire and its African allies between 1824 and 1900. The 4th Ashanti war only lasted from December 1895 until February 1896, and around half of the British troops were sick from tropical disease at the end of it: Queen Victoria’s son-in-law, Prince Henry of Battenberg was one of those who died. The British Empire’s African allies in this conflict were led by Major Robert Baden-Powell, who went on to start the Boy Scout movement.

Privates, Coldstream Guards c1890

Albert married Ada Louise Smith in London in 1896, and in 1902 he was discharged from the Coldstream Guards after over 12 years of service.

In May 1907 Albert, Ada (now calling herself Louise) and their family (Albert Leonard, aged 11, Harold, aged 9 and Edward, aged 3) arrived in Quebec, Canada. Albert is described as a drayman, and their final destination is recorded as Sudbury, Ontario. Sudbury was a town dominated by nickel mining, and it is likely that Albert was going to join the large numbers of European settlers employed in mining and related industries (like Albert Southwell, who emigrated from Hebden Bridge around the same time, to work, and die, in a Canadian mine).

Albert enlisted with the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force on 19th September 1914 at the age of 43: he was a labourer living in Grand Forks, British Columbia, an area noted for copper mining. We don’t know anything about his service in WW1, but he arrived back in Halifax, Nova Scotia on 26th December 1918: the passenger lists include him as a Sergeant in a ‘party of medically unfits etc., sailing from Liverpool’.

His parents and sister Betsy are buried at Wainsgate (plot B356a), but Albert, who died in 1943 aged 72 and Ada Louise, who died in 1963 aged 90 are buried at Ocean View Burial Park, Vancouver.

Joseph Henry REDDIHOUGH (1887-1958)

Joseph Henry Reddihough was born in 1887, the youngest child of John Reddihough, a farmer, and his wife Sarah Hannah (born Preston). In 1911 the family were living at Old Town Hall and Joseph and his brother John William were working with their father on the family farm – they kept cattle, pigs and poultry, as well as growing turnips and potatoes.

The Military Service Act of January 1916 introduced conscription into the armed forces, and Joseph applied for an exemption (seemingly on the grounds that ‘my time is fully occupied with farming’), but his application was refused by the Todmorden Local Tribunal on 6th March 1916. He appealed the decision but his appeal was dismissed by the Appeal Tribunal in Bradford on 10th May.

The refusal from the Local Tribunal is signed by Joseph Clay – almost certainly the father of Vernon Harcourt Clay, who enlisted as soon as war broke out, was mortally wounded in July 1916 during the Somme Offensive and died in October 1916, aged just 21.

Joseph enlisted on 19th May 1916 at Great Yarmouth, aged 29, and joined the 195th Heavy Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery as a gunner. He was posted to Egypt in March 1917, and remained in the Middle East until the end of the war – he was hospitalised in Palestine with malaria from October 1918 until January 1919.

In 1931 Joseph, aged 44, married 31 year old Ruth Ella Jones, who was born in Ryton near Gateshead (her parents Thomas and Elizabeth Jones and her sister Christiana Agnes Jones are buried in plot B1178, and sisters Janet and Amy and brother Thomas Nelson Jones are buried in plot E994). In 1939 they were living at Roebucks Farm, Luddendenfoot with Joseph’s widowed mother.

They had two children, Muriel and Glanville, and also a baby daughter, Mary, who was born in 1942 but only lived for six hours. Joseph died in 1958 aged 70, and Ruth died in 1984 aged 83.

The family are all buried in plot C640/641, marked by an imposing black granite memorial. Buried with them are Joseph’s parents and his brother John William Reddihough. They were all living at Roebucks at the time of their deaths.

Their baby daughter Mary is not named on the memorial, but is recorded as ‘an infant’. The memorial also has an inscription commemorating an infant daughter of John and Sarah Hannah Reddihough – Elizabeth Hannah, who died in 1880 aged 2 years and 9 months, and is not recorded in the burial register.

John SAGER (1877-1956)

The nearest match to the name on the Roll of Honour (which looks like J. Lagar, and is probably incorrect) is John Sager – a local man, living close to Wainsgate, buried in the graveyard, and who served in World War 1. The name is often incorrectly spelt as Sagar.

John Sager was born in Heptonstall in 1877, the son of Sutcliffe and Susannah (born Burn) Sager. Sutcliffe Sager was a slater, plasterer and painter, and later landlord of the Robin Hood Inn, Pecket Well.

Sutcliffe Sager died on 26th October 1897, aged 43, after falling from his horse coming over Cockhill Moor. He and some others were apparently returning from Cullingworth, where they had been attending a pigeon shooting match.

John initially worked with his father as a plasterer’s apprentice, and in 1900 he married Grace Greenwood (daughter of Booth and Sarah Greenwood of Wainsgate Lane), and in 1901 they were living in Wainsgate Lane and he was working as a fustian cutter. In 1911 the couple, still living in Wainsgate Lane, had five children and John was a house painter.

John Sager appears to have enlisted for General Service in November 1915, but in 1916 he asked to join the newly formed Pigeon Sevice, and received a response, dated 28th Ocober 1916, from Capt. A. H. Osman, officer-in-charge, Home Forces Pigeon Service. He enlisted as a Pioneer in the Royal Engineers at Chatham on 8th November 1916, aged 39, for duty with the Carrier Pigeon Service, Overseas. He was living at Waterloo Bank, Old Town and employed as a plasterer. It is unclear from the available records where John was stationed during the war – possibly Italy. He was hospitalised in 1917 for an unknown injury or illness, and served with the Pigeon Service until the end of the war.

Grace died in1922, aged 44, and in 1939 John was living at 6 Waterloo Bank with his daughters Sarah Ellen and Lilian and was working as a house painter. He died in 1956, aged 78, and is buried at Wainsgate in plot C636/637.

The picture lower right shows a double-decker bus converted to a mobile pigeon loft

Before the First World War, pigeons had been used experimentally by the Army and the Navy, but with limited success. Alfred Henry Osman (1864-1930) was a renowned pigeon fancier and racing pigeon enthusiast, who in 1898 founded and edited The Racing Pigeon weekly journal. At the beginning of the war he was appointed as officer in charge to organise and command Carrier Pigeon Service in the British Army. He accepted the post as unpaid and was made Lieutenant Colonel. His knowledge of pigeons and pigeon fanciers enabled him to recruit suitable birds and experienced pigeon fliers (such as John Sager) to serve in the Pigeon Service.

In 1928 Osman published Pigeons in the Great War – A Complete History of the Carrier-Pigeon Service during the Great War 1914 to 1918. He was first secretary of the National Flying Club and a founder member of the Royal Pigeon Racing Association.

More information about the use of carrier pigeons in WW1 can be found here, here and here.

Hezekiah SHAW (1827-1862)

Hezekiah Shaw was born at Slack House, Wadsworth on 23^rd March 1827, the son of Henry and Sally Shaw. The 1841 Census records him as aged 14, employed as a worsted weaver, living at Slack House with his father (a farmer), his mother (a bobbin winder) and five siblings, most of whom are also described as worsted weavers. Most of their neighbours on the hillside farmsteads (Handibut Hill, Bedlam, Spinks Hill, South Shields, Delf End, Plumpton, Hill Top) above Wainsgate are also described as farmers and worsted weavers – presumably handloom weavers earning their living from the dual economy that was still common in this area. The late 1840s were hard times for handloom weavers, which is perhaps why Hezekiah left Wadsworth, travelled to London and joined the army.

The 1851 census describes him as a trooper, resident at Horse Guards, Whitehall, unmarried, aged 24, born in Wadsworth, Yorkshire, and the 1861 census describes him as a soldier, living at Hyde Park Barracks, unmarried, aged 33, born in Halifax. It is unlikely that he would have seen active service during this time (the 1^st Life Guards did not take part in the Crimean war), and would probably only have been involved in ceremonial and civil policing duties.

Corporal, 1st Life Guards, 1849

He died at Hyde Park Barracks, Knightsbridge on 7^th January 1862, aged 34. Cause of death was pulmonary tuberculosis (or phthisis as it was then known) and he is described on the death certificate as ‘Corporal of Horse, 1^st Life Guards’ (a rank similar to Sergeant in an infantry regiment).

Hezekiah was buried in Brompton Cemetery, London but is commemorated on the headstone of the family grave at Wainsgate (plot FY174) where five of his siblings and his parents are buried. The Brompton burial register describes him as ‘of 1^st Life Guards’ and gives his address as Cavalry Barracks, Knightsbridge. He was buried on 13^th January – the register records him being buried in a Common Grave, but this is changed to Private Grave, with a note added ‘Right of Interment purchased 12 March 1862’. Who purchased the Right of Interment, and why was it done two months after his burial?

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On 10^th September1855 Hezekiah Shaw (bachelor, aged 28) married Sarah Sedgley (spinster, aged 27) at St. John’s parish church, Notting Hill. Both Hezekiah and Sarah are recorded as living at 11 Westbourne Gardens, Notting Hill, and his occupation is listed as stone mason. Their fathers are recorded as Henry Shaw, farmer and Thomas Sedgley, saddler (who came from Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire, and died in 1848). It seems highly unlikely that there were two Hezekiah Shaws, aged around 28 and with fathers who were farmers called Henry Shaw, both living in west London at that time: did he leave the army, become a stone mason, get married and then return to the army (perhaps his wife died, or left him). Or did he lead a double life?

Percy Oswald SUNDERLAND (1891-1961)

Son of Crossley and Ada (born Ingham) Sunderland of Myrtle Dene, Hebden Bridge, and brother of Clarence Ingham Sunderland and Wallace Lindsey Sunderland. He was a clerk at Hoyles in Hebden Bridge before he enlisted in 1916 aged 24. Initially he served with the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment, but was transferred in 1917, serving with the 48th Battalion Machine Gun Corps in Italy until he was demobilized in 1919.

In 1939 he was a poultry farmer living in Rothwell, near Leeds, with his 78 year old widowed father (a retired cotton weaver) – his brother Wallace was also a poultry farmer living in Rothwell, so presumably they had set up in business together.

Percy died at St. John’s Hospital Halifax on 6th December 1961, aged 70 and was cremated at Park Wood. He was living at 4 York Street, Hebden Bridge at the time of his death, and is not known to have married or had any children. He is commemorated on the family memorial at Wainsgate (plot F772/773) and although he is not recorded in the burial register it is assumed that his ashes are interred there.