Search results for Ravensthorpe.

2 September 1917 : Pte George Fieldhouse

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George Fieldhouse was born in Dewsbury in 1895, the son of Charles (a foreman at a carpet works) and Elizabeth Fieldhouse. They lived at 21 Armitage St, Ravensthorpe, Dewsbury. At the 1901 Census George, age 7, was at home with his parents and six siblings: an older brother Herbert and four sisters. Circumstances could not have been easy; their...


6 September 1917 : Pte Bertie Howroyd

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Born on 31 March 1898, Ravensthorpe, Yorkshire, Bertie was living with his parents, Ephraim and Ellen Howroyd at 93 Clarkson Street, Ravensthorpe. He attended the Wesleyan Church and Sunday School and worked as a percher for Pickering Greaves and Co (a perch is a frame on which cloth is placed for inspection; a percher is the person who inspect...


10 October 1916 : Pte Beaumont Wood

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Beaumont Wood was born in Thornhill in January 1888. At the 1891 Census, age 3 Beaumont was the youngest of five children to his father a 'wood sawyer' and mother Elizabeth. Ten years later at the 1901 Census he had a younger sister and a younger brother too. His 17 year old brother and 15 year old sister were working. The family lived at 286 Ch...


13 October 1917 : Pte Clifford Haley

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Clifford Haley was born in Gomersal, West Yorkshire in 1898, the fifth child of Charles Haley (a leather currier) and Nancy (née) Wright.  After attending St Saviour's Boys' School and the Ravensthorpe Congregational Church Sunday School, Clifford joined his father in working at Hartley Brothers, curriers, in Ravensthorpe. In his spare time Clif...


14 October 1917 : Private William Haldenby

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William Haldenby was born in Burmantofts, Leeds in 1881. He lived in Leeds until moving to Ravensthorpe where he worked as a case fitter at Cottam's Victoria Pianoforte Works for eleven years. At the 1911 Census he lived with his wife, first child and sister and her husband on Sackville Road, Ravensthorpe. The following year, in March 1912, his...


A Village Goes to War. A History of the Men of Ravensthorpe who Fell in the Great War

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Western Front Association Development Trustee and Vice-Chairman David Tattersfield has researched the names on the memorial in his local church in Ravensthorpe, West Yorkshire. Fortunately, three large frames of photographs had also been preserved - a most unusual occurrence - covering 81 of the 114 names on the memorial. At the time of the Grea...


The Heilsberg 39: A New British First World War Cemetery in Poland

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Between August and December 1918 a number of British Prisoners of War died at Heilsberg Prisoner of War camp in the east of Germany. It is likely their deaths were a result of insufficient food, overwork or one of the diseases that often swept through these overcrowded and insanitary camps. Conditions in Germany at this time were harsh. Food was...


9 April 1917 : Gunner Ewart Doodson

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Ewart was born in 1898 in Elland, near Leeds, Yorkshire. After the deaths of his natural parents he was adopted.  His adoptive parents were Tyas Wood (a rug and shawl finisher) and Morrennah (née Jagger) whose family included brother James (born 1890, a boot and clog maker) and Lily (a dressmaker’s apprentice) At the 1911 Census, age 12, Ewart w...


11 April 1918 : Pte Jack Whiteley

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Jack was born in 1900, in Golcar, Yorkshire, the youngest of five children and of three boys: William and Allen and then Jack.  His parents were Fenton (a foreman at a woollen cloth manufacturer) and Ann Elizabeth (née Relsish). At the time of her son’s death his mother was living at 273 Scout Hill, Dewsbury. At the 1911 Census, the family of se...


23 July 1917 : Pte George Clement Sutcliffe, 1/4th KOYLI.

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George Sutcliffe was born in Mirfield in the West Riding of Yorkshire on 18 March 1884. The 49th (West Riding) Division had, following the Battle of the Somme, moved to the Neuve Chapelle area; the division stayed in this sector until 13 July 1917 when it was ordered to proceed to Bethune railway station. After de-training at Dunkirk, the divisi...


David Tattersfield MA

/about-the-wfa/exec-committee-profiles/david-tattersfield-ma/

  David can date his interest in the First World War to a specific event – the year was 1990 and he was persuaded to read First Day on the Somme by Martin Middlebrook. So impressed was he that upon finishing the book, he immediately read it again. The following year, accompanied by his brother, he holidayed in France. This was the 75th annivers...


11 August 1916 : Pte John Hinchcliffe

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Son of Albert and Elizabeth After his early education at Mirfield Parish Church School, he won a scholarship for the Mirfield Grammar School. On leaving the Grammar School he went to Ravensthorpe National School as an assistant teacher and subsequently moved to York for his formal teacher training. After graduating from York, John took up a p...


21 October 1917 : Pte Friend Whitwam

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Friend Whitwam was born in Mirfield 19 May 1876 to parents Zachariah and Mary Whitwam of Snake Hill, Mirfield. Zachariah Friend was a card dealer at a woollen mill. Friend was baptised 25 April 1877. Friend had two sisters, Clara and Sarah. At the time of the 1901 Census, Friend lived with his parents and younger sister Sarah at 126 George Str...


24 August 1918 : Pte Willie Allott

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Willie Allott was born in Dewsbury 23 July 1894. His parents were James (a blacksmith at the colliery) and Emma Allott who lived at 4 Church Street, Ravensthorpe. He was baptised 17 Aug 1894. He was the oldest of the six children.  Aged 16 at the 1911 Census, Willie was working at the woollen mill in Thornhill Lees.  After originally being draf...