Kingston upon Hull War Memorial 1914 - 1918
The story of Hull in World War 1
Over, 7,500 Hull men died in the First World War. Over 1,200 of these were sailors working with the fishing fleet, or serving with the Merchantile Marine, the Royal Navy and the Royal Navy Reserve. They carried out vital war work, bringing in supplies, transporting troops and minesweeping the seas
There were nearly another 1,500 men who were born in Hull, but who lived elsewhere. They died fighting for Australia, Canada, New Zealand and America. There are many others, who enlisted in Hull or who were associated with the City, but are not usually remembered on Hull war memorials. As Hull had four large hospitals and was the port of entry for repatriated prisoner of wars, servicemen from all over the world are buried in Hull. The Kingston Upon Hull Memorial aims to remember all those with a Hull connection who died in the First World War.
There are over a hundred families on the Hull Memorial that lost two or more of their family. Sometimes fathers, sons and brothers were lost on the same day. Some families lost three sons, other Hull families lost four sons, including all their children in the First World War. At least one in six Hull families lost a direct relative. Many others would lose close friends, work colleagues or others known to them. Each death was irreplaceable and an individual tragedy for someone.
Unfortunately, not all deaths were recorded in official casualty figures, particularly if soldiers died of sickness, accidents or were discharged home with wounds, of illness. By 1924 the Ministry of Pensions reported that there were 20,000 war wounded living in Hull. Although they survived the war, they are rarely recorded on war memorials. What follows here are snippets of some of those people who died, whose deaths were reported in the local newspapers.
Mr Daniel and Mrs Sarah McDonald of 4 Mason Street, also lost two sons. Both, John and Joseph McDonald were aged 21 when they died. Their third son Daniel also committed suicide in 1917 aged 17. Robert and Elizabeth Wilson, lost their son Paul of heart failure, serving with the Canadian Engineers on 22/1/17. … Read more
Charlotte Pearson from Sidmouth Street was left with six children when her husband Edwin died in 1917 from wounds received six months earlier.
Ann Maria Paxton from Alexandra Street, was widowed with six children. Harriet Ann Foster from 67 Dorset Street, Hull, lost her husband Arthur on the 18/09/1918. Her two sons George and Arthur had been killed in April 1917.
Mary Eliza Pawlett from 1 Dee Street, Hessle Road was left with 4 children to support, when her husband was lost on the steam trawler ‘Quair’, sunk in 1916.
Mary Elizabeth Popplewell, from 143 Regent Street was widowed with six children when her husband Joseph was lost at sea on Christmas Eve 1914 .
Mrs Emma Morrison from 10 Breamar Terrace, Walcott Street, lost her nineteen year old son John at Arras in 1918. Her other son William who lived next door with his wife and four children was also killed.
The mother of John William Sawyer killed on the 20th October 1917 lived to be 101 years old, but never got over the loss of her son in the First World War.
Hull Newspapers report that Minnie Storr from 7 Wassand Street ‘died of shock’, on the 29th May 1917, aged 42 years old. She had never recovered from the loss of her son Pte. Arthur Storr, 13th EYR. who was killed on the Somme on the 13th November 1916, aged 21. His body was never found … Read more
Mrs Charlotte Fenn, who lived at 16 Springfield Villas, Stoneferry Road had already lost two sons in the war. Her husband George Edward Fenn died of wounds on the 20th January 1919. He was given a military funeral and buried at the Hedon Road Cemetery. She had also lost her younger brother Arthur Jarvis, on … Read more
Mrs Sarah Ann Cuthbertson, from 12 Richmond Terrace, Harrow Street, lost four of her seven sons in the war.
