BORN GOOLE 1888. KNOWN AS ‘FIELD’ BROWN. HE WAS A RESIDENT IN NEWINGTON WHEN WAR BEGAN. HE JOINED THE 12TH HULL PALS.
HIS MOTHER MRS E. JANE BROWN LIVED AT 47 PORTLAND STREET, HULL AND 20, WILTON STREET, HULL (WAR PENSION ADDRESS).
HIS FATHER, EDWARD BROWN, WAS LOST AT SEA IN THE MEDITERRANEAN, 1N JUNE 1916, SUNK BY AN ENEMY SUBMARINE.
A FORMER SEAMAN. DESCRIBED AS 5 FOOT, 4 INCHES TALL, 127 LBS WEIGHT, 35-37 INCH CHEST, FRESH COMPLEXION, BLUE EYES, BROWN HAIR, GOOD VISION, UNION JACK TATOO, CHURCH OF ENGLAND RELEIGION. HE ENLISTED AT HULL, ON 14/09/1914. HE TRAINED AT DALTON HOLME, RIPON AND SALISBURY AND MARRIED WHILE TRAINING IN EARLY 1915. HIS WIFE LIVED AT 115 LONDESBROUGH STREET, HULL. SERVED WITH THE 12TH EAST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT (3RD HULL PALS) IN EGYPT AND FRANCE. SURVIVED THE SOMME ATTACK .DIED AT OPPY WOOD ON 03/05/1917, AGED 29. COMMEMORATED ON THE ARRAS MEMORIAL. HE HAD SERVED IN THE ARMY FOR 2 YEARS AND 232 DAYS.
HIS ARMY EFFECTS WERE AND WEEKLY WAR PENSION OF 13 SHILLING AND NINE PENCE, WERE LEFT TO HIS WIDOW, IRENE AT 20, VANE STREET, SPRING BANK, HULL (ARMY RECORDS ADDRESS). SHE RE-MARRIED AT ST JUDES CHURCH, HULL, ON 10/07/1918 AND MOVED TO 115, LONDSBOROUGH STREET, HULL (WAR PENSION ADDRESS).
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.
