Trooper B. Byass of Warter. Bernard Byass, joined the 1/1 East Riding Yeomanry in 1914, Regimental Number 1114, later 50081. Serving in Egypt and Palestine, Bernard was promoted to Corporal and was killed in action at Naane, Palestine, on 14/11/1917. He was buried in Ramleh Cemetery and is commemorated on the War Memorial at Warter Estate as well as on a memorial plaque on All Saints Church, Bishop Burton listing former pupils at the church school who served in WW1. Second son of Thomas & Jane Elizabeth Byass, farmers of Prospect House, Warter, part of the Warter Estate, Bernard was born in 1893 and worked on the family farm before the war [source: Trevor Brigham]. The Byass family is a large extended family spread throughout East Yorkshire. Two members of the Byass family are known to have died in World War 1: Bernard Byass and William Byass. Bernard Byass was born in Warter in about 1894. He was the son of Thomas Byass and Jane E Barnitt. The family farmed at Welldale House, Ebberston in 1901 and Prospect Farm, Warter in 1891. Shortly afterwards the family moved to Bishop Burton to take on Lingâs Farm from Eliza who was farming there with her son William Ouston. William died at the age of 42 years in the following year. Another branch of the family is still there now that descends from William Byass, Thomas younger brother. Bernard is also a cousin of Ben Byass’ grandfather, John Byass of Cherry Burton. Bernard and his brother Ernest volunteered for military service in 1914. At the time of his death, on 14th November 1917, Bernard was a Lance Corporal in the East Riding Yeomanry. He is commemorated at the Ramleh War Cemetery in what was then Palestine and is now Israel. In 1915 the East Riding Yeomanry sailed for Macedonia, but the destination was altered and in November they landed in Egypt. They became part of the Western frontier force in Libya before being transferred to Palestine. From March until October 1917, they fought the 1st and 3rd battles of Gaza, and in November they advanced into the Judean Hills to cut off Jerusalem from the north. The Battle of El Mughar Ridge on 13 November 1917 took place at Junction Station, where the Haifa-Jerusalem line branches to Beersheba. This was the day before Bernard died. The battle succeeded in causing the Ottoman Seventh and Eighth Armies to withdraw towards Jerusalem and Haifa respectively. This battle was also the site of the last British cavalry charge ever. This is an extract from a book that describes Palestine the day before Bernard died: To the north (of Qatra), Brigadier-General Fryer’s 22nd Mounted Brigade, the East Riding Yeomanry leading, with the Staffords behind, had been ordered to secure the extreme northern part of the ridge (north of El Mughar). They were just crossing the Wadi Jamus west of Yebna when they saw the Bucks and Berks attaining the crest. The sight which met them when they, in turn, topped the ridge was an astonishing one.
