William Barber is the only non-Yorkshireman on the Swanland war memorial and the only person who was married. He was born in Patricroft, part of Salford, Lancashire, on 18 April 1893. His parents were William, a ship canal labourer, and Jane Barber. By 1901 the family had moved to Yorkshire and were in Hessle. In the 1911 Census William was a Waggoner on the Swanland farm of Percy John Westerdale and living with his family. On 14 September 1913 at St Peter’s Church in Bilton in Holderness, William married Kate Jarvis of Swanland. The Jarvis family had lived in Swanland since around 1890. At the time of his marriage William gave his address as Cape Cottage, Wyton, which is a hamlet to the east of Hull and part of Bilton Parish. William & Kate lived in Wyton when their frst child, William, was born in December 1913. They subsequently moved to Swanland and that was where their second child, Walter Henry, was born in April 1916. William joined up in June 1916, first with East Yorkshire Regiment but later was transferred to 13th Battalion Duke of Cambridgeshire’s Own (Middlesex Regiment). He died in France of bronchial pneumonia on 16 August 1917 and is buried in Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, the second largest British & Commonwealth Cemetery in Belgium. A short report of his death appeared in The [Hull] Daily Mail of 27 August 1917 which mentioned he had been a scholar of Westbourne Street School and, prior to enlistment, had been employed at an oil mill in Hull. His death was reported in the Hull Daily Mail, on 12th September 1917, with his photograph.
THE SWANLAND WAR MEMORIAL: At meeting held on 8 July 1919 Swanland Parish Council established a committee to act in conjunction with the Parish Council with the aim of providing a permanent memorial to the soldiers and sailors who had served in His Majesty’s Forces during the War. However, at a Committee meeting held the following February, it was decided that only those who had fallen would have their names inscribed on the memorial. At the same time it was proposed that the Trustees of Swanland Chapel be approached to provide a site for the memorial, which they subsequently did. Nine months after the first Committee meeting it was agreed that the memorial would be in Aberdeen Granite at a cost of £103 with the work being undertaken by Messrs Brown & Sons of Hessle. Just over £50 had so far been raised from the village and Mr Evison guaranteed to meet any balance. The War Memorial was unveiled on 2 September 1920 by Mrs Amy Farmery whose son Louis was one of those who had died.
