306649 Pte Percy Oswald Procter, 2/7th West Riding Regt

306649 Private Percy Oswald Procter of the 2/7th Duke of Wellington's (West Riding Regiment) was one of 676 British Army officers and men to die on the 28th November 1917. Many of these men died in the freezing mud of Flanders. Percy was 30 years old, the son of William and Sarah Maria Procter of 26 Greave's Street, Little Horton Bradford. He is commemorated on the Cambrai Memorial at Louverval, France.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry (MIC)
Soldiers Died in The Great War
Army Service Numbers
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission

6031 Pte Willis Ormerod, 5th Bn, York & Lancs Regt

6031 Private Willis Ormerod of the 5th Battalion, York & Lancaster Regiment, died of wounds in England on the 30th September 1916. He had previously served with the West Riding Regiment (number 5449). At the time of his enlistment at Halifax, Willie was living in Todmorden. He was 26 years old, the son of Mrs Sarah Ormerod, of 106 Burnley Road Todmorden, and he is buried in St Paul's Church Cemetery at Cross Stone, Yorkshire.

Surviving service papers show that Willis was conscripted into the 3/4th Battalion, West Riding Regiment on the 4th April 1916, was posted to the 1/4th Battalion on the 11th August that year, and was transferred to C Company of the 1/5th York & Lancs Regiment on the 3rd September.

Papers dating to September 1920 reveal that Willis was unmarried and that his father was John Marshall - address unknown. Willis had no full blood brothers or sisters but did have four half brothers: John Arthur Ormerod, Greenwood Ormerod, Albert Ormerod and Ernest Ormerod; all of these men in their thirties and forties by September 1920.

Willis was wounded on the 20th September 1916 (gunshot wound to the spine) and after spending time at the 3rd Casualty Clearing Station and the 13th General Hospital in Boulogne, was transferred to England aboard the St Omer Hospital Ship on the 25th. He died at the Norfolk War Hospital five days later; the cause of death noted as septicaemia and heart failure.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry (MIC, WO 363)
Soldiers Died in The Great War
Army Service Numbers
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission

11690 Pte Edwin Hemingway, 9th Bn, West Riding Regt

11690 Private Edwin Hemingway of the 9th Battalion, West Riding Regiment, was killed in action on the 22nd February 1916.

Edwin was born at Leeds and enlisted at Bradford. He is possibly the same man whose birth was recorded in the West Riding of Yorkshire in 1887 and who appears on the 1901 census as a 13-year-old weaver living with his widowed mother at Talbot Street, Batley. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission incorrectly records his number as 1690 although his medal index card (recording his name as Hemmingway) and Soldiers Died in The Great War, show it correctly.

Edwin joined the West Riding Regiment in September 1914 and he arrived in France on the 15th July 1915. He is buried in Dickebusch New Military Cemetery in Belgium.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry.co.uk
Army Service Numbers 1881-1918
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in The Great War

26923 Pte Ferady Clayton, 9th Battalion, Duke of Wellington's (West Riding) Regiment

26923 Pte Ferady Clayton of the 9th Battalion, Duke of Wellington's (West Riding) Regiment, was killed in action on 27th July 1918.

He was called up - aged 18 years and 10 months - on 12th April 1916 and originally posted to the 3/5th Battalion, South Lancashire Regiment (army service number 5198). His service record survives in the Burnt Documents series at the National Archives and shows that at the time of his attestation he was living at 20 North End, Stalybridge and working as a Cotton Operative. He gave his next of kin as his mother - Sarah Clayton - and his sister, Mrs Elizabeth Coates of 19 Fitzroy Street, Ashton-under-Lyne. Elsewhere in Ferady's service papers, his mother's address is noted as 143 Trafalgar Street, Ashton-under-Lyne.

With less than three months' service under his belt, Ferady sailed for France, embarking at Southampton on the 11th July 1916 and arriving at Rouen the following day. He moved to the 6th Infantry Base Depot at Rouen the same day and joined his battalion (5th South Lancs) in the Field, ten days later. He then remained with the battalion until 21st October 1917. By this date the Territorial Force had been re-numbered and Ferady had a new six digit number: 242443.

During his time with the 5th South Lancs, he was admitted to hospital with scabies and spent two weeks out of the line as a result.

Ferady received a gunshot wound to the second finger on his left hand on 20th September 1917 and after spending a month in the 3rd Australian General Hospital he was sent home to England aboard the Hospital Ship Jan Breydel. He was in the London Temperance Hospital from 21st October until 10th November 1917 and, after fully recuperating, was posted to the 3rd Battalion, South Lancashire Regiment on 20th December 1917.

After recuperating in Blighty, Private Clayton sailed again for France. He joined the 11th South Lancs in Rouen on 19th January 1918, was posted to the 7th South Lancs three days later, and was finally transferred and posted to the 9th Duke of Wellington's (West Riding) Regiment on 3rd April 1918. It was at this point that he was given his new number 26923. He joined his battalion in the Field on 6th April 1918 and was fatally wounded on 23rd July, dying at a casualty clearing station four days later. Presumably his next of kin were notified by telegram that he was seriously wounded.

Soldiers Died in The Great War records that Ferady Clayton died of wounds and in his file there is a telegram from the officer commanding number 29 Casualty Clearing Station in France stating that Ferady died as a result of gun shot wound to his abdomen.

There are some minor - trivial, with hindsight - misdemeanours recorded in Pt Clayton's file: improperly dressed on a parade in June 1916, over-staying his leave in January 1918, losing a wire-cutter in April 1918, and not complying with an order on 27th June 1918.

Ferady Clayton is buried at Bagneux British Cemetery, Gezaincourt. 1374 British servicemen from the First World War are buried there, the majority of whom died of wounds at the 3rd, 29th and 56th Casualty Clearing Stations.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry.co.uk (MIC, Service Record in WO 363)
Army Service Numbers 1881-1918
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War