BORN HULL 20/02/1895. THE ONLY SON OF LEONARD WHITAKER (1866-1942) & LOUISA BROOKS (1865-1931), OF 76, PEEL STREET, HULL. HE HAD TWO OLDER SISTERS, DAISY AND ELSIE. A FORMER HULL & BARNSLEY RAILWAY CLERK, LIVING AT 70, BLAKE STREET, HULL (1911 CENSUS). HE HAD PERSONAL REFERENCES FROM REVEREND, W.H. HEAP, QUEENS HALL, HULL & R. PAWLEY, ESQ, CHIEF ENGINEER AT HE HULL & BARNSLEY RAILWAY LINE.
HE ENLISTED AS A TEENAGER, ON 18/08/1914. TRANSFERRED AS PRIVATE, 15501, “B” COMPANY, 8TH SOMERSET LIGHT INFANTRY, ON 23/10/1914. POSTED TO FRANCE AND LANDED AT LE HAVRE, ON 10/09/1915. THE BATTALION FOUGHT AT LOOS, ON 26/09/1915, WHERE HIS DIVISON SUFFERED 3,800 CASUALTIES. IT ALSO ATTACKED BEAUMONT HAMEL, ON THE SOMME, IN 1916.
DURING THIS TIME, LEONARD WAS PROMOTED TO CORPORAL AND SERGEANT AND WAS OBVIOUSLY A CAPABLE AND EFFICIENT SOLDIER. HE SERVED AT THE FRONT FOR 18 MONTHS. AND RECEIVED HIS COMMISSION ON 29/05/1917. HE HAD ONLY BEEN WITH THE 7TH KING’S YORKSHIRE LIGHT INFANTRY (KOYLI), FOR FOUR WEEKS, WHEN HE WAS KILLED, LEADING HIS MEN, ON 16/08/1917, AGED 22. ON THIS DAY THE 7BN KOYLI, CROSSED THE STEENBEEK EARLY IN THE MORNING, WITH THE 7TH SOMERSET LIGHT INFANTRY. THE ADVANCE WAS HELD UP BY FIRE FROM THE BLOCKHOUSES TO THE WEST OF LANGEMAACK VILLAGE. THESE WERE CLEARED BY MEN OF THE THE 7TH KOYLI BATTALION, INCLUDING PRIVATE, WILFRED EDWARDS, WHO WON THE VICTORIA CROSS. LANGEMAACK WAS RETAKEN, HAVING BEEN LOST TO TE GERMANS IN APRIL 1915.
LEONARD WHITAKER LEFT EVERYTHING IN HIS WILL TO HIS MOTHER.
HE IS COMMEMORATED ON THE TYNE COT MEMORIAL, BELGIUM.
HIS DEATH, ADDRESS AND PHOTOGRAPH WERE REPORTED IN THE HULL DAILY MAIL, ON 01/09/1917. *
LEONARD WHITAKER IS ALSO REMEMBERED ON HULL’S CLIFTON STREET SCHOOL MEMORIAL.
From the Great War Forum – 23 Sept 2017 – Born Sculcoates, Hull. Father; Leonard; mother: Louise.
Enlisted 30 August 1914, Hull. Aged 19 years 180 days. (DoB: 20 February 1895). Gave occupation as “clerk”. Requested Corps of Hussars. Allocated briefly to 13 Reserve Cavalry Regiment (17589).
23 October 1914 to 8th Somerset Light Infantry (15501). To France 8 September 1915 (Medal Roll Index Card – ancestry, but only indexed for SLI.
Reached sergeant then brought back to UK as potential officer, officer cadet battalion, then commissioned into 7 KOYLI.
Crucially among the papers are the two people he gives as character referees:
1. Rev W H Heap, Queen’s Hall, Hull (Wesleyan Methodist minister)
2. R. Pawley Esq., Chief Engineer, Hull and Barnsley Railway, Hull.
Alas the actual references are not in the TNA File: WO 339/91369.
He was commissioned on 29 May 1917. Killed in action 16 August 1917.
There was soldier’s will leaving everything to his mother. There was some confusion as he had left it with his mother and it dated from the days when he was a sergeant in the SomLI.
The family home was at 71 Peel Street, Hull. he had two sisters: Daisy and Elsie W (28yrs & 26yrs respectively at the time of Leonard’s death.)
