PRIVATE DANIEL BOOTHBY 12/887. Born at Hull, in October 1896, Daniel was the sixth of seven children to Robert and Rachel Boothby of 8 Victoria Terrace, Studley Street, Hull (War pension Address). A Dock Labourer before the war he enlisted at City Hall on 5th October 1914 giving his age as 19 years and 11 months, a little lie designed to ensure he got to see foreign service before he was old enough to do so. Too many Recruiting Sergeants were happy to turn a blind eye to this and all too often recruits were little more than boys with their heads crammed full of Boy’s Own stories of courage and derring-do. Daniel joined the 12th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment, ‘The Sportsmen’, 3rd Hull Pals. He was carried from the trenches with gunshot wounds to his back and abdomen on 15th August 1916 and died a day later at 1st Casualty Clearing Station. Daniel Boothby is buried in Choques Military Cemetery; he was 19 years old. His death was reported in the Hull Daily Mail, on 15/09/1916.
