Thursday 21 July 2022

Alfred Owen Cookson 1894 - 1918

Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve record, page 1 of 5, for Alfred Owen Cookson
(from Find My Past)

Born:
Q1 1894 in Wakefield Registration District.

Son of:
Albert Cookson and Kate Maud (nee Smithson) who married in the Tynemouth Registration District in Q2 1891.
Albert Cookson was born in Stanley, Yorkshire in 1862 and was baptised at the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel.  He died in Leeds, Yorkshire in 1943 and is buried at Harehills Cemetery, Leeds. In 1901 he was a Mining Engineer. In 1911 he was a Colliery Manager. In 1919 he was an Auctioneer.
Kate Maud Smithson was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland in 1869. Her father, William Smithson, was an Accountant.  Kate Maud Cookson died in Leeds in 1945 and is also buried in Harehills Cemetery.
 
Position in family: Alfred was the second of three children born to Albert and Kate Cookson

1. Violet Sarah Cookson b. 4 February 1892 in Farrington Gurney, Somerset. Baptised in the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel at Paulton, Somerset on 1 March 1892.  Violet married Richard Cooper in 1918 in Leeds.
2. Alfred Owen Cookson b.1894 in Wakefield RD. Killed in Action on 8 October 1918 in France
3. John Cookson b. Q1 1912 in the Barnsley RD.

Home address, age and occupation:
1901: 1 Dawson Square, Tynemouth, Northumberland. Kate Cookson and her two children were living with (or visiting) her brother Alfred Smithson, who was a Mariner.
Alfred Smithson was, in 1911, a Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Voluntary Reserve, serving on H.M.S. Satellite.

1911: Kendal Green, Worsborough Bridge, Barnsley. Albert and Kate Cookson and their two children Violet and Alfred were together in this census. Albert Cookson was a Colliery Manager and Alfred Owen Cookson was a Mining Student.

1914/15: Dale View, Kendal Green, Worsborough Bridge, Barnsley.

1918/19: Denholme, Denton Avenue, Roundhay, Leeds. In Alfred Owen Cookson's Probate Calendar entry his father, Albert Cookson's occupation was given as Auctioneer. 

1919 Probate Calendar Entry for Alfred Owen Cookson (from Ancestry)

Marriage: Alfred was unmarried.

Military Service:
Enlisted: 17 November 1914 at the age of 20 years
Service:    Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve
Rank: Sub-Lieutenant (published in the London Gazette 24 November 1914)

April 1915: Alfred gave evidence in court in South Shields Police Court that a Swedish gentleman had been taking photographs of 'certain naval works' on the river Tyne at Newcastle. Sub-Lieutenant Alfred Owen Cookson, who was in a patrol boat on the river, was called to give evidence that he had observed the defendant taking photos while on a steamer proceeding down river.
(Newcastle Journal, 2 April 1915, p. 6  on Find My Past)

October 1915: to Hawke Battalion Royal Naval Division
December 1915: Attached to the 6th Corps Mining Company.
February 1916: In hosptial in Alexandria with tonsilitis
March 1916: Embarked on H.M.T. "Llandovrery Castle" from Alexandria, Egypt for Mudros.
May 1916: Transferred to Hood Battalion, Royal Naval Division.
August 1916: Embarked at Alexandria for Marsailles and then at Havre for England.
September 1916: At Blandford Camp, England with 4th Reserve Battalion
December 1916: Embarked at Folkstone for Boulogne, France
December 1916: Joined Hawke Battalion.
March 1917: Attached 189th Siege Battery Royal Garrison Artillery.
April 1917: Promoted to Temporary Lieutenant
June 1917: Leave in England for 10 days.
October 1917: Wounded by shrapnel.
August 1918: Leave in England for 14 days
October 1918: Killed in Action in France.

[Source: the above are just a few of the details from his Royal Naval Division Records on Find My Past]

Alfred Owen Cookson was entitled to the 1914/15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

Death:   8 October 1918 aged 24 years. 
Initially remembered on the Vis-en-Artois Memorial in France
Updated in 2022:
Buried in Proville British Cemetery, France
Grave Reference: I.C.10 Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Remembered:
St Edmund's Church, Lidgett Park Road,
Roundhay, Leeds, West Yorkshire
War Memorials Register

(Note that Alfred's rank was recorded as Captain in the RND on this memorial)

Roundhay World War 1

Roundhay World War 1 © John E Scurr (WMR-85676)


Alfred's parents were still living on Denton Avenue, Roundhay, Leeds when the 1939 Register was taken on 29 September 1939. His father Albert was listed as a retired Mining Engineer.  His brother John Cookson, was living with them. He was aged 27, and was an Engineer's Assistant, Head Clerk. He was unmarried at this time.
Alfred's sister Violet and her husband Richard Cooper were also living in Leeds. They appear to have had five children by 1939, although the names of three are redacted in the 1939 Register suggesting they were still living when the records were released in 2015.

The article "WW1 graves re-dedicated after bodies of sailor-soldiers finally identified" appeared on the Royal Navy website on 20 July 2022. It includes information on Alfred's death and the dedication of his new gravestone. A family member was noted as being his 'niece-in-law' Elizabeth Cooper, who is most probably a relative by marriage of a child of his sister Violet.

Monday 4 July 2022

Researching two First World War soldiers who survived the war - Claude Brook and Leonard Lowe

This is a post in reply to a query on the Barnsley's History - The Great War Facebook group. It is a public group, anyone can join, but a member's first post is moderated to ensure they have a genuine interest in Barnsley, South Yorkshire and the First World War. 

The great-grandson of Sergeant Claude Brook and Private Leonard Lowe asked me if I could supply him with any information about their war service as he hadn't been able to find much himself. Most of the sources I use are available online, but some are behind a paywall. I also have a collection of resources concerning the war, newspaper cuttings (mostly digital) and some documents created in the course of the Barnsley War Memorials Project which ran from 2014 to 2018, during the Centenary of the First World War. As the two men named above both survived the war and 'lived to be old men' there are fewer resources available than there would have been if they had lost their lives, but I was willing to have a look for my correspondent. 

I would always recommend that people have a go at researching their relatives themselves, it can be a very rewarding experience, but I recognise that some people have limited access to the internet and/or are not able to get to local libraries which provide access to these records for free, very easily. To be honest I am in the second group myself, I live about 200 yards from a library and haven't been there more than twice in the past two and a half years due to my health issues. Getting to Barnsley Archives would be two buses each way from our house, or an expensive taxi ride there and back, and I just can't face that and really wouldn't like to even try the journey without support at the moment anyway.

The aim of the Barnsley War Memorials Project (BWMP) was to compile a list of the men and women connected with Barnsley who had lost their lives in the war, and along the way to record and research all of the war memorials in the Barnsley Borough and those nearby which list Barnsley men. We hadn't realised, in 2014, that we would find so many war memorials in our area, 863 at the last count, and at least another 47 in towns and villages very close by. These include memorials to the Boer War, the First and Second World Wars, the Spanish Civil War, and the conflicts in Korea, the Falklands and Afghanistan.

Back to Claude and Leonard ... 

I was sent this photo of a First World War ID tag to get me started and the information that Claude was from Mapplewell and Leonard from Monk Bretton.

An oval metal tag with impressed text, on a chain. The label above reads
'Claude Brook: 1st World War Dog Tag'
 

The first place I looked was the 1918 Absent Voters' List from the Electoral Register. The transcript made by the BWMP volunteers is available at Barnsley Archives on the open shelves and online on the Barnsley & District War Memorials website (click the blue link above to get to the appropriate page on this legacy site which took over the BWMP's work and continued it after 2018).  The Absent Voters' List was compiled over the winter 1917/18 and so it includes the names of men who were serving away from home at that time. Some Barnsley men would have joined up after that period, so they are listed as normal in their homes, and some of the men listed would have died or been discharged by the time of the December 1918 election. All Barnsley men over 21 were included in the 1918 Electoral Register, and men over 19 if they were serving in the forces. 

Ward Mapplewell Hoyle Mill
Polling District
16S 27AE
Number in Register
4747 6053
Surname Brook Lowe
Forenames Claude E
Leonard
Street
Main Road
Dove Row                      
House No.
 -
16
Service No.
7 79519
Rank Sgt
Pte
Battalion 3rd
 -
Regiment
Y&L
DLI
Handwritten Notes 
Class P
Wharncliffe Woodmoor Hospital
 -
Parish
Staincross
Ardsley

 
Claude Brook

Claude Brook turned out to have been an experienced soldier when the First World War began. When he enlisted in the York and Lancaster Regiment on 14 January 1915 he declared that he had previously served in the Duke of Wellington's West Riding Regiment.  He was 34 years and 100 days old, making him born in late 1880, and his occupation was Coal Miner. He was married and had seven children at that time. He was given the service number 7 (as we can see on his ID tag pictured above) in the Second Barnsley Pals, who were the 14th Battalion York and Lancaster Regiment, and he was promoted to Corporal within a few days. 

Luckily his Army Service Records have survived and can be seen on Ancestry and Find My Past.  His record was a bit patchy to start with, he was reduced in rank to Private in November 1915, but after service in the Mediterranean (both Barnsley Pals battalions first served in Egypt) and then in France from 11 March 1916 he was appointed Corporal again on 1 July 1916 - a significant date as it was the first day of fighting in the Battle of the Somme. He was wounded on 23 July 1916 and again on 13 June 1917, by which time he was an Acting Sergeant. The effects of this wound plus a recorded 'strain of the abdominal muscles' on 23 July 1917, and possibly demand for experienced soldiers to train the new recruits coming through conscription meant that he served out the rest of the war in England, from 7 August 1917 onwards. He was transferred to the 3rd Battalion in April 1918 and then to Class P of the Army Reserve in October 1918 as a full Sergeant and discharged on 14 March 1919. His Absent Voters entry above confirms that he was in the 3rd Battalion and the Reserve by the time the information was collected, and, interestingly, he was in Wharncliffe Woodmoor Hospital. His Silver War Badge record, also on Ancestry, records that he was discharged due to sickness.

His conduct was recorded as Very Good, and he received the usual British War Medal and Victory medals in 1921. The medal roll records that he was discharged as surplus to military requirements on 14 March 1919, it does not mention sickness.

Attached to his First World War records I found his earlier enlistment records. He had joined the West Riding Regiment on 8 December 1899 at the age of 19 years and 3 months and prior to that he had been in the Militia for nearly two years (my correspondent had a photo of a record of Claude's service in the militia from 14 February 1898 onwards). He was, at that point in his life, unmarried and his occupation was Labourer.  He was 5' 3" tall in 1899 and does not appear to have had a late growth spurt as some soldiers did as his 1915 records also state that he was 5' 3" tall.  His chest measurement had increased from 34" in 1899 to 38" in 1915, and additionally we are told that his complexion was fresh, and his eyes and hair were brown. The earlier records record his place of birth as Huddersfield, that was not a question on his 1915 records. 

The next document in Claude's earlier file is a 'Certificate of Deserter's Balance', a note that he had deserted on 17 December 1900, so after a year's service, which seems strange. On the following page there is a note dated 14 July 1910 that says he claimed, 'Benefit of King's Pardon', which I had to look up. The Great War Forum has a helpful post which includes the following information:

Special Army Order of 23rd May 1910.

Deserters from the Army will, under the circumstances referred to, be granted a pardon if they surrender before 23rd July, 1910, at home or before 23rd September, 1910, abroad. They will be allowed to serve in the corps in which they are at the time of surrender, except those soldiers who come under the conditions of paragraph 526, King's Regulations.

There is an index entry for a record on Fold3 on Ancestry (Fold3 requires an additional subscription which I have not taken up) which says that Claude actually deserted on 18 March 1900, and a notice about his desertion was posted on 3 April 1900. I wonder if this was an earlier incidence than the one noted in his service records, and he was found that time and served again until December. 

Claude married Matilda Allott on 8 April 1901 at All Saint's Church in Darton. In his 1915 Service Records he lists seven children. 

Thomas born 20 June 1901 in Cawthorne
Lily born 12 January 1904 in Darton
Scytha born 27 February 1906 in Cawthorne (female)
Annie born 20 Oct 1907 in Cawthorne
Georgina born 12 April 1910 in High Hoyland
Donald born 22 March 1912 in Darton
Frank born 6 July 1914 in Darton

It doesn't take much calculation to work out that Matilda was very likely more than seven months pregnant with Thomas when they married in April 1901, and this may have been the reason that Claude deserted (again?) in December 1900.  Their marriage register entry, available on Ancestry, gives Claude's occupation as Labourer. The 1901 census was taken on 31 March, only a few days before their marriage, and on that date Claude was a boarder in Headingley cum Burley, on the outskirts of Leeds with the Clayton family and he was working as a Blacksmith's Striker. The unusual name of one of Claude and Matilda's children, Scytha, appears on the 1891 census for the Brook family, also in Headingley. Claude's parents were John Brook and Sarah Jane (nee Lockwood) who had five children living at home and a visitor Sytha *surname illegible* aged 30. This is probably Sarah Jane Lockwood's sister Scytha or Sytha Lockwood.

By the time the 1911 census was taken Claude and Matilda were living on Main Road, Mapplewell, the address from which he enlisted in 1915. The census that year recorded information about marriages and children. Claude and Matilda reported that they had been married for nine years and that they had had six children by the time the census was taken, but that one of them had died young. This was Wilson Edward Brook born 20 July 1902 and died Q3 1902, who was buried at Darton on 7 December 1902 aged four months (according to his baptism and burial records which are available on Ancestry). 

The experience of being a father and having to support a large family must have had a good effect on Claude because he was chosen to be a non-commissioned officer in the First World War and his character was recorded as Very Good despite his previous less than perfect record. I am glad that he lived to a good age, and I hope he and Matilda had many grandchildren to enjoy as they got older. 

 

Leonard Lowe
Leonard Lowe's First World War service was less straightforward than that of Claude Brook. He was born on the 11th or 12th of October 1895 (depending on whether you look at his First World War Army Service Record, or the date of birth he gave in the 1939 Register). This makes him more than fifteen years younger than Claude. His father was Joseph Lowe whose family had travelled from Wellington and Oakengates in Shropshire seeking work. Joseph married Alice Maria (nee Price) in St Mary's Barnsley in May 1891, but she too was from Shropshire.  In the 1911 census Joseph and Alice, who were living at Charity Street in Monk Bretton, reported that they had had 13 children, but sadly eight of them had died before 1911. Leonard was 16 years old at this time, but no occupation was recorded for him on the census.

Leonard enlisted on 9 November 1914 at Barnsley aged 19 years and 29 days. His records state that he was born in Monk Bretton and that he was unmarried. He lived at 218 Burton Road, Monk Bretton with his parents. He was a miner and had not got any previous military service, unsurprisingly considering his age. He was assigned the service number 1120 in the 13th Battalion York and Lancaster Regiment, the First Barnsley Pals. He was 5' 4" tall with a fair complexion, blue eyes and light brown hair. His chest measured 33". These statistics were not unusual at the time, poor diet and hard living conditions, especially in a large family where many of the children appear to have died at a young age, would have produced men of a shorter stature than we are used to today. His records also noted that he had a scar on his inner right thigh but added that it was over two years old.

The following February he was absent without leave for eight days; this was during the time the Pals were training at Silkstone Camp. Near enough to Barnsley to be tempted to go home for a few days when it was cold and wet I imagine.  The only other note on this part of Leonard's record is dated 3 May 1915 when he was discharged under King's Regulations Para (392) III c - this translates to 'Not being likely to become and efficient soldier'.  A further page in his records headed 'Application for Discharge of a Recruit as not likely to become and efficient Soldier' notes that he had a weakness in his right leg 'owing to necrosis of femur'. It appears that he had passed the initial medical in November 1914 by passing off the scar on his right thigh as nothing much - unfortunately the underlying problem had been quite serious - possibly the reason he was not working in 1911, and after five months of military training the weakness in his leg had become very obvious. 

This was not the end of Leonard's military career, however.  On 5 September 1917 Leonard enlisted again, having been called up under the Military Service Act. This time he enlisted at Pontefract and initially into the 88th Training Reserve Battalion. He was now 21 years and 11 months old, a coal miner, but still living with his parents, now at 16 Dove Row, Hoyle Mill. He declared his previous service and it was clearly recorded that he had been discharged as medically unfit. He has grown an inch taller 5' 5" now, and his chest is two inches broader. He was transferred into the Durham Light Infantry on 5 December 1917. It would have been during this period that his information was collected for the 1918 Absent Voters' List we saw at the beginning of this post. He was transferred within the Durham Light Infantry in April 1918, and arrived in Calais, France in May. After a month he was transferred again, on 28 June 1918, this time to the Labour Corps and allotted a new service number 602282. 

His physical condition had improved a little - in 1917 he was recorded as A3 but after training and before he went overseas he was A2, 'Fit for dispatch overseas, as regards physical and mental health' but he required further training. Unfortunately, active overseas service must have taken a toll quite quickly as at the point he was moved to the Labour Corps his condition was recorded as B2, which means 'Able to walk 5 miles, see and hear sufficiently for ordinary purposes'.  It was usual for a man unfit for serving on the front line for whatever reason to be moved to the rear area where he could still contribute in some way. Leonard saw out the war serving in the Labour Corps.

In January 1919 he returned to England to be released from the Army in order to return to work as a miner. His discharge papers, in particular the certificate he was given to show that he was a soldier being discharged, gave his condition as B2 as before, so his health had not improved, but neither had it got any worse. He had served in France for 250 days, and this was sufficient to entitle him to the usual medals, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal which he received in January 1922. He applied for a pension, but does not appear to have received one, possibly because his disability was a consequence of his pre-war illness and insufficiently aggravated by the war to qualify for a pension. 

Leonard Lowe married Elsie White in 1921 and in the 1939 Register the couple were living with her father and brother on Wombwell Lane, near the Keel Inn and Cross Keys, which I assume makes that address in the vicinity of Stairfoot, near where the big Tesco is now. They appear to have three children and Leonard was working as Public Works Labourer, so he had continued to be fit enough to work after the war. He died aged 62 which was, for the time, not a bad innings, and his family knew that he had served his country in the war despite his poor health. 

The 1939 Register was taken in September as the Second World War began and was the source of information for the war time identity cards. After the war it continued to be used by the National Health Service and it was updated for many more years. It can be accessed on both Ancestry and Find My Past. Ancestry is free to use in all the Barnsley libraries and in Barnsley Archives and Find My Past is available in Sheffield (and possibly some Barnsley libraries although this varies). The local newspapers such as the Barnsley Chronicle and Barnsley Independent are available to read and take copies from in Barnsley Archives, and the war time issues of the Barnsley Independent and the South Yorkshire Times are available online through the British Newspaper Archive and Find My Past. Unfortunately for this piece of research my subjects seemed to have kept a low profile and I could find nothing in particular about either man in the papers to which I have access from home.

I intend to send my correspondent (who has asked to remain anonymous) some of the images I have downloaded whilst researching these men for him. I do not take any fees for this kind of research but do always ask if I can write up the results and post them online for everyone to read who is interested in the history of Barnsley in the First World War.  Hopefully this post has shown that a combination of military, religious and civil records can be used to fill out a picture of the time even for men who returned home, although I confess that I was very lucky to find Army Service Records for both men, as 60% of these were lost in the blitz in the Second World War.

Wednesday 16 March 2022

Alfred William Scorsby 1898 -1918

 

War memorial at South Elmsall, with close up of Pte. A. W. Scorsby's name
(photos taken 13 April 2014)

 
Alfred William Scorsby's birth was registered in Barnsley in Q3 1898, so he was born in July, August or September of that year. He was killed in action on 28 May 1918 in France. However he was not remembered on a memorial anywhere in the Barnsley Borough, but instead appears on the memorial in South Elmsall, about 12 miles to the east.

This small cutting from the Barnsley Chronicle on 29 June 1918 explains why this might be. 

Alfred had been working at the Co-op in South Elmsall, and from his Army Service Records we know that he was a Grocer's Assistant and/or a Drayman. 

Alfred's Service History

He was 18 years old when he attested on 22 July 1916, too young to serve overseas, so he was put in the Army Reserve until February 1917.  He was then mobilised and posted to the Northumberland Fusiliers, service number 55408, and after training he was sent to France, arriving at Bologne in September 1917.  That would have made him just 19 years old. 

His records show that he returned to England between Decmember 1917 and the end of March 1918.  The cause of his hospitalisation in Oxford appears to have been Trench Feet - the result of spending days in wet boots and puttees, which if left untreated could be a very serious disease. 

When Alfred returned to France he was transferred into the 1st Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment with a new service number 29904. At the end of April his Division, the 21st, was posted to the river Aisne, a few kilometres west of the town of Soissons, where in May they were attacked by the Germans who pushed the Commonwealth Forces back across the river to the Marne. Alfred was reported missing on 28 May 1918 and is one of the almost 4,000 officers and men commemorated on the Soissons Memorial in France, who died during the Battles of the Aisne and the Marne in 1918 and who have no known graves. 

Why was Alfred not remembered in Barnsley?

His parents were Alfred Scorsby from Malton, North Yorkshire and Minnie Mary Ann Tugwell from Cranley, Sussex.  

Alfred Scorsby senior, who was a quarryman, had married before in early 1880, also in Barnsley, but his first wife Mary Ann (nee Orange) had died around the same time their first child was born, in August or September 1880. She was only 19 years old.  Alfred senior, now a 23 year old widower, was recorded in April 1881 in the census living with his parents William and Elizabeth at 9 Gladstone Terrace, off Silver Street in the Wilson's Piece area of Barnsley town centre. Also in the household was little Mary Elizabeth Scorsby, his daughter, just 8 months old. Sadly the baby died at the end of April and was buried in Barnsley Cemetery.

1890 map of Silver Street, Barnsley and terraces off to either side
(with thanks to the Barnsley Family History Society)

In this area of Wilson's Piece the terraces were named after famous politicans like John Bright and Richard Cobden, and prime ministers such as William Gladstone and Lord John Russell. The area shown is now roughly the part of Morrisons supermarket car park which is on the left as you approach it from the petrol station. There is still a tiny bit of Upper Silver Street left leading off Princess Street.

Ten years later Albert Scorsby senior was still living with his parents, now at 10 Westgate, in the area where Barnsley Town Hall now stands.  His brother Fred Scorsby, a cab driver aged 22 and his sister Lily aged 18, were also still living with their parents. Albert was 31 years old and was recorded as being a single man rather than a widower.

Alfred senior remarried on 26 June 1892 to Minnie Mary Ann Tugwell at St Mary's church in Barnsley.  He was still a quarryman and he gave his address as Westgate. Alfred and Minnie had three children together including our Alfred William Scorsby in Q3 1898.  Although Alfred's first child, Mary Elizabeth, had been baptised at St George's church as yet I can find no sign of the children of his second family being baptised at any church or chapel in Barnsley.  In the 1901 census return Alfred and Minnie are living at 4 Union Street and he is now a foreman quarryman. Union Street runs off Sheffield Road, by the Guide Post pub, and the houses there were of a better size and quality than the ones on the terraces in Wilson's Piece.

Sadly Minnie died in 1903 leaving Alfred to care for Vera, Mildred and Alfred William, all under 10 years of age. Minnie Scorsby is also buried in Barnsley Cemetery. It was no surprise to find that Alfred senior had installed a housekeeper, Augusta Siddons, by the time of the 1911 census. However also in the household was 5 year old Doris Scorsby, whose birth was actually registered as Doris Scorsby Siddons.

1911 census snip for the Scorsby household at 4 Union Street, Barnsley

 It certainly looks like Alfred had a child with his housekeeper, I wonder why he didn't marry her. 

Vera Mary Scorsby married Percy Smith from Cudworth in November 1915, and Percy declared his occupation as soldier in their marriage register entry. He died of wounds on 6 January 1916, so the couple didn't have much time together. This makes Vera the Mrs Smith referred to in the newspaper cutting shown near the beginning of this post. Percy is remembered on the war memorial in Cudworth. Vera remarried in 1918 to George Markey and called her son, who was born in Barnsley in 1919, Alfred. Maybe after her father, or maybe in memory of her brother.

By the time Alfred William Scorsby attested, in July 1916, he and his father were living at 11 Broad Lane in South Kirkby, about 10 miles to the east of Barnsley town centre. Broad Lane is about 1.7 miles from the centre of South Elmsall where we know Alfred William was working at the Co-op before he enlisted. Alfred William's cousin John Harold Scorsby, son of his father's brother Harry, also served, initially joining the York and Lancaster Regiment and then transferring to the Royal Army Service Corps. He survived the war.

Mildred Scorsby appears to have been in service in Lincolnshire by 1919, according to a mention in Alfred William Scorsby's Army Service Records, and I can't find any evidence of Doris and her presumed mother Augusta, at this time. 

I decided to buy the 1921 census return for Albert Scorsby senior to see where he was around the time the war memorial in South Elmsall was being planned.  I don't do this for many of the soldiers I am researching, it would be just too expensive at £3.15 per image even with my subscriber's 10% discount.  I was surprised to find that Alfred Scorsby senior, now 62 years old, was living with his younger sister Lily at 11 Broad Lane, South Elmsall. Lily had married William Harrison at St Mary's in Barnsley on 15 August 1895. In the 1901 census they were living in Cudworth - I wonder if that is how Vera met Percy? - and by 1911 they had moved to South Elmsall. 

1921 census snip for the Harrison household at 11 Broad Lane, South Elmsall

I think that 11 Broad Lane, South Kirkby and 11 Broad Lane, South Elmsall were the same place. If that was the case, then were Alfred William Scorsby and his father Alfred senior living with Lily Harrison in 1916? Why had they left Union Street?

In 1921 William Harrison, his son George Edward, who had been born in Cudworth in 1906, and his brother-in-law Alfred Scorsby were all working for the Carlton Main Colliery Company at the Frickley Colliery in South Elmsall. I have seen mentions in the local newspapers of the time that the Frickley Colliery was sunk between 1899 and 1905 so that suggests they would have been looking for new workers. Maybe the Harrisons had moved from Cudworth (after 1906 but before 1911) to the South Elmsall area for work? Maybe William sent a message to his brother-in-law saying that there was suitable work for him in the Frickley Colliery. Unlike many of the miners I have seen on the 1921 census the Harrisons and Alfred Scorsby were not 'out of work' at this time. Possibly because William was a groom (and the horses had to be cared for even in a strike), his son worked in the waggon shop (maintenance I assume) and Alfred was a labourer in the colliery yard, a less strenuous job for an older man. 

Commemoration of the Great War in South Elmsall

Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 3 July 1923, p.4.
(Click the image to enlarge it.)
A decision had been made by September 1922 that the South Elmsall war memorial would be a stone cross costing £400. (Penistone, Stocksbridge and Hoyland Express, 20 September 1922, p.5) Knowing now that Alfred William's father was living in the area in 1921 it seems perfectly reasonable that he would have put forward his son's name for inclusion on the war memorial. The memorial was unveiled and dedicated on 2 July 1923. 

The newspaper report shown here (with thanks to Find My Past) notes that the land for the memorial had been donated by the Carlton Main Colliery Company, and a special mention was made of the 1,200 men who went to serve from the Frickley Colliery.

It is always nice when things seem to come together like this. Albert William Scorsby was remembered on the memorial in part provided by the company for which his father, uncle and cousin worked.  He may not have been remembered where he was born, but South Elmsall is not that far away.

Unveiling day at South Elmsall. Penistone, Stocksbridge and Hoyland Express, 7 July 1923, p.6.
(With thanks to Find My Past)

 Thank you for reading.

Monday 7 February 2022

Thomas Ledger 1887 - 1949

Thomas Ledger

Photo and information from Hilary Oates. Thomas Ledger was her husband's great uncle.
(Some additions and edits by BarnsleyHistorian.)

Name: Thomas Ledger
Born:  8 December 1887

His parents Joseph Ledger and Annie Green had married on 16 April 1877 at Holy Rood Catholic Church in Barnsley. (Ref: Barnsley Independent 21 April 1877 p.8)  They had six children, but two died before the 1911 census was taken. 

Joseph Ledger was living with his parents John and Mary Ledger, at 54 Waltham Street in the 1881 census.

Annie was living with her parents Hugh and Mary Ann Green at 8 Union Street in 1881, possibly for support after the birth of Sarah Ann who was two months old at that time.

Children of Joseph and Annie Ledger:
Mary Ledger b.1878 d. 1878
Mary Elizabeth Ledger b.1879 d.1880
Sarah Ann Ledger b. 13 Jan 1881 baptised on 13 Feb 1881 at Holy Rood, Barnsley. d.1961 unmarried
Mary Agnes Ledger b.1883 m. Raymond R Hanlon in 1907
Jane Ledger b.1885  m. Percy Ashton in 1911
Thomas b. 8 Dec 1887 d.1949

Address in 1901 census:  5 Union Street
Address in 1911 census: 84 Sheffield Road

Prior to the war Thomas Ledger was like many of the young lads in Barnsley. He lived at home with his parents and three sisters, he was employed as a lamp man at the colliery, he enjoyed playing football and sports.

Thomas' mother Annie died in January 1915 aged 59 years. She was buried in Barnsley Cemetery from 84 Sheffield Road.

Military Service:
Date Enlisted: 25/05/1915
Address:  28 Albion Street, Barnsley, Yorkshire.
Service No:    14/1254

Thomas attended the medical assessment and passed with results below
Age:                27 years and 168 days.
Height:            5ft 4 inches
Weight:            116 lbs
Health:             Good.

Thomas was assigned to the 14th York & Lancaster Regiment (2nd Barnsley Pals ) in June 1915.
Thomas was then posted to the 15th Battalion on the 4th of December 1915, he was then posted back to the 14th Battalion on the 28th of December 1915.

On the 28th of December 1915 Thomas was posted to Egypt and arrived overseas as an acting Corporal with the York & Lancaster Regiment, from there he was posted to France on the 11th of March 1916.

He served throughout the war with the 14th battalion until  it was disbanded in France in February 1918. Thomas then served with the 2nd battalion, which was a regular battalion, until being demobilised on 19th February 1919.

At some point during his service Thomas was awarded class 1 proficiency payment and was also appointed unpaid lance corporal on the 13th April 1918.

After the War:
When Thomas returned home after the war his health had suffered and he found it difficult finding employment. 

In 1921 Joseph Ledger and his children Sarah Ann and Thomas are living in the same household in Barnsley. (Ref: search on 1921 census index on Find My Past) 

Thomas' father Joseph died in May 1929 aged 72 years. He was buried in Barnsley Cemetery from 25 Albion Street.

Thomas Ledger died  on 14th May 1949. He was buried on 18 May 1949 from 26 Chestnut Crescent, in Kendray, where he had been living with his sister Sarah Ann Ledger since at least 1939. (Ref: 1939 Register on Ancestry) His grave is in Barnsley Cemetery, plot T 844, the same plot as his parents Joseph and Annie.

Sunday 26 December 2021

Somme Centenary Artwork Panels

The 30 panels each consist of five vertical perspex strips each containing images of two soldiers (or a profile if no photo was found at the time of the memorial's design) and a piece of art by local school children in the form of a circular memorial plaque. Therefore there are a total of 300 names. 

The names given below are a transcription of the memorial and like any other memorial they should not be taken as proof of a man's identity or status, which should always be corroborated by your own research.

A full list of the names of the men commemorated can be found on the memorial's own page, along with notes about the accuracy of the piece and research that has been done since it was created. The subsquent move of the memorial to Churchfields has also been documented.

With grateful thanks to Fay Polson who took these photos in July 2016 and on whose Facebook page they orginally appeared.  

Panel 1.

Reid B
Penn W
Harris A
Dickinson T
Braham G
Wilson J
Whitehead H W
Stott E
Skelton J H T
Scanlan H

Panel 2.

Morgan W J
Lovatt W
Goulding J
Darisey J T
Andrew W
Walton C W
Southern J T
Sagar T
Rushworth W
Peatfield R

Panel 3.

Doyle E
Dobson H
Cooper J W
Cooke G
Clarke J H F
Swift G E
Rawlin W S
Harrison A E
Hargate J
Earnshaw J W

Panel 4.

Askin D
Baylis L
Dawber J
Duncan R L
Galloway G
Gregory C
Holmes V
Penton G A
Thompson J W
West T

Panel 5.

Bower E
Brook J
Chappell A
Hewitt C E
Paisley J
Storrs A
Sykes A
Taylor H H
Walker F
Watkinson R A

Panel 6.

Epton F
Hirst W
Hold J W
Moore T
Sayers C
Sudworth R
Sykes J
Thomas L
Wildman J
Winwood A

Panel 7.

Bakewell F
Ball G F
Hubbard J
Jackson J
Parsons H A
Ramsden S T
Walker E
Walker F
Walker C
West T G

Panel 8.

Bearshall J R
Bell P
Finan P
Higginbott R J
Howard L G
Ingham E
Morley H
Naylor A
Rimmer J W
Ward F

Panel 9.

Atkinson W
Cottingham W
Flaxman A E
Green B R
Hawes H
Hinchcliffe W
Jackson P
Keddy E
Lucas M
Morton S

Panel 10.

Burton H
Conway T
Copley F
Feasby F J
Lazenby H
Lynam L
Moss W H
Shepherd T
Spencer A
Symons F

Panel 11.

Batty W
Beckett W M
Harwood W
Hawcroft H
Hollingsworth E
Howarth C F
Petch W
Smith G D V
Smith H
Wilmott G

Panel 12.

Challenger J L
Hague W
Howe A J
Moore L
Harris W
Robinson A
Roystone A
Swinmurn J
Wood F
Woolley S

Panel 13.

Bagnall T
Bentley F
Crawford T
Free W
Heaversedge R
Hodgkinson W H
Marshbank J
Nicholson F B
Thompson C C
Weston A

Panel 14.

Clowery E
Collier S
Fox R
Gay H
Gelder A
Gilbert R
Gleeson W
Jones A E
Miller H
Smith W

Panel 15.

Collishaw J
Cosgrove G
Exley F
Exley T
Fearne E
Frost J W
Gill S
Henighan J
Thompson J
Watkin W

Panel 16.

Bailey J
Dale N E
Demar WH
Dobson I
Drury H
Ellis H C
Fennell E
Peace F H
Rose A E
Webster A

Panel 17.

Clegg J
Clegg T
Clegg T
Cooper S
Ives E
Lake J W
Sanderson M
Swift W
Waring J T
Williams J A

Panel 18.

Banks R J
Bryce H T
Buckley G
Burton L
Butler H L
Milner E
Milner W
Whitaker J
Wrigglesworth E
Wright J C

Panel 19.

Baker J
Batty J W
Beache S A
Bedford S
Betton E
Boocock T
Bower G
Kenworthy W
Lewis W
York H

Panel 20.

Allsop B
Almond A
Barnett W
Bradley H
Guest T H
Hall T
Hardisty E
Hill T
Turner R
Victory T W

Panel 21.

Berry W T
Birchall T
Hepplestone J W
Hinchliffe R L
Hirst C H
Holmes H
Lapidge J
Seddon W
Turner H
White W

Panel 22.

Batley E
Chapman J
Hurd G
Inskip F
Jones E
Kelk T A
Kenworthy A W
Lee D W
Smith J R
Turton A

Panel 23.

Barlow L
Chapman A
Charlesworth E
Glynn J
Leverton W
Lindsay F
Lloyd T
Lomas R G
Lyon G
Simpson H C

Panel 24.

Atha J B
Jackson W
Marsland A
Mason H H J
Merrill W
Norton L
Parker W W
Scholey J W
Widdop L
Wood J

Panel 25.

Fairley D
Frost A W
Harris J
Potter F J
Powers J
Robinson A
Royston E
Sellars A
Senior D
Ward G W

Panel 26.

Bassinder L
Buckley J W
Kevitt J W
Nuttal F
Pickering C
Smith S
Sweet J W
Sykes C M
Thompson A H
Tingle H

Panel 27.

Allemby H
Atkinson A
Atkinson G A
Jubb J H
Milthorpe H
Tindall W P
Tomlinson S
Totty W
Turner H
Wildin G

Panel 28.

Bailey F L
Barker W
Boyce S
Leech T A
Smithson A
Swales E A
Waltham A
Walton C B
Waterfield G H
Wilson E

Panel 29.

Carr A J
Carr C
Caunt H
Cave F H
Crossland J
Mansell T H
Mitchell W
Scargill H
Spence E
Swift J S

Panel 30.

Marsh D
Newberry J
Paley P
Powell T W
Prestwood H
Price E
Stocks T
Thomas P H
Wood H
York T

B&DWM #BAR70