BORN HULL 1883. SON OF JOSEPH & MARY ELIZABETH, OF 39 DOVER STREET, HULL.
MARRIED AT ALL SAINTS CHURCH, HULL, ON 23/06/1913. HIS WIFE ADA PARKER (1886-1967), LIVED AT 12 KIMBERLEY STREET, HULL (CWGC ADDRESS), WITH THEIR SON, FRANK (BORN 26/01/1914). EMPLOYED AS A CLERK AND TIMEKEEPER. HE HAD PREVIOUSLY SERVED IN THE 3RD COLDSTREAM GUARDS BATTALION, FOR 12 YEARS.
HE RE-ENLISTED AT HULL, ON 16/11/1914, AGED 31 YEARS AND 5 MONTHS. HIS ARMY RECORDS, DESCRIBE HIM, AS 5 FOOT 8 INCHES TALL, 186 LBS WEIGHT, 38 INCH CHEST, ‘GOOD’ PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT AND “VERY GOOD” CHARACTER. HE JOINED THE HULL SPORTSMEN BATTALION, THE 13TH EAST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT. TRAINED AT BEVERLEY AND RIPON. WAS PROMOTED TO COMPANY SERGEANT MAJOR, ON 29/05/1915. SERVED IN EGYPT FROM 15/12/1915. POSTED TO FRANCE ON 08/03/1916. SAW ACTION AT THE BATTLES OF SERRE AND OPPY WOOD. WOUNDED BY A BULLET IN THE ELBOW. ON 15/05/1917, HE WAS MENTIONED IN DISPATCHES (MID) FOR DISTINGUISHED SERVICES IN THE FIELD AT OPPY WOOD. WOUNDED AGAIN ON 18/08/1918. INVALIDED TO SHEFFIELD GENERAL HOSPITAL. DEMOBILIZED ON 27/02/1919. DIED OF GAS WOUNDS, ON 03/03/1919, AGED 35. HE IS BURIED AT HULL WESTERN CEMETERY WITH 493 CWGC SERVICEMEN.
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.
A member of the armed forces mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) is one whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which his or her gallant or meritorious action in the face of the enemy is described. Those mentioned in despatches (MiD) are not awarded a medal for their action, but receive a certificate and wear an oak leaf device on the ribbon of the appropriate campaign medal. In the British Armed Forces, the despatch is published in the London Gazette. In all, 141,082 mentions were recorded in the London Gazette between 1914 and 1920.
