BORN HULL 1895. SON OF THE LATE JAMES AND MARY TACEY, OF 14 SACKVILLE TERRACE, FERRIES STREET, HULL,. A SHIP YARD LABOURER.
HE ENLISTED IN THE 3RD HULL PALS, ON 05/01/1915, AGED 20 YEARS AND 4 MONTHS. THIS WAS HIS ARMY ADDRESS. DESCRIBED AS 5 FOOT, 3 INCHES TALL, 127 LBS, 34.5 INCH CHEST. SERVED WITH THE 12TH EAST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT. DURING TRAINING HE LOST 14 DAYS PAY FOR BEING ABSENT WITHOUT PERMISSION. HE LEFT DEVONPORT, ON 16/12/1915. ADMITTED TO HOSPITAL IN MALTA. WITH SCABIES, ON 24/12/1915. EMBARKED ALEXANDRIA FOR FRANCE, ON 13/04/1916. IN FRANCE HE WAS ADMITTED TO HOSPITAL SEVERAL TIMES. RECEIVED FIELD PUNISHMENT NO:1 FOR DISOBEYING AN N.C.O. WOUNDED IN THE RIGHT LEG, AT OPPY WOOD, ON 03/05/1917. HE DIED OF WOUNDS, ON 14/05/1917, AGED 22, AT NO:30 CASUALTY CLEARING STATION. HIS ARMY EFFECTS WERE LEFT TO HIS SISTER, MRS EDITH FARR, OF 8 EMMAS TERRACE, HODGSON STREET, HULL. THEY INCLUDED, “PHOTOS, BELT, BADGE, PURSE, FOUNTAIN PEN AND PENNY”. BOTH PARENTS DECEASED. HE LEFT A BROTHER, JAMES TACEY, AT 7 BEACONSFIELD TERRACE, CORNWALL STREET, HULL, AND 3 OTHER SISTERS, SARAH, ETHEL AND NORAH.
HE IS BURIED AT AUBIGNY COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION, FRANCE
The attack on Oppy Wood, part of the Battle of Arras, was a significant battle for the East Yorkshire Regiment and particularly for the city of Hull. All four Hull Pals battalions were involved on 3 May and all suffered heavy casualties, with 40% of those present killed or injured. 2nd Lieutenant Jack Harrison, a local teacher and rugby player with Hull FC, won a posthumous Victoria Cross for his bravery in rushing a machine gun position to protect his platoon. His body was never found.
The village of Oppy in France had been in German hands since October 1914 and was part of a formidable defensive system including trenches, dug-outs and thick barbed wire defences. During the Battle of Arras, which began in April 1917, the British tried to take Oppy. The first attack was a failure. A second attack was partially successful. The third attack on 3 May, known officially as the Third Battle of the Scarpe, was again unsuccessful with significant loss of life. The troops were ordered to attack at 3.45am, rather than at dawn, and the defending Germans could easily see the line of British soldiers clearly lit by the full moon. The British continued to attack Oppy and were finally successful the following year. The City of Hull Memorial at Oppy was unveiled in 1927 and commemorates the men of the Hull Pals who were killed on 3 and 4 May 1917.
