Busby, Walter Percy | Kingston upon Hull War Memorial 1914

BORN HULL 5/4/85. SON OF THOMAS BUSBY (1846-1908) & ELIZABETH BRADBURY (1852-1889), OF 22 NEW PARADE, SUTTON BANK, DANSOM LANE, HULL. ONE OF SIX CHILDREN. HIS THREE BROTHERS, BILL, SAM AND JOE,Â LIVED AT 11 GLADYS GROVE, COURTNEY STREET, WITH HIS MARRIED SISTER, EDITH LYONS. HIS OTHER MARRIED SISTER, ALICE DRAPER, LIVED AT 214 BARNSLEY STREET, HULL. HIS MOTHER DIED IN CHILDBIRTH. HE WAS ADOPTED BY A KINDLY NEIGHBOUR- EMILY BOGG, OF 25 NEW PARADE, DANSOM LANE, WHO ALSO DIED IN CHILDBIRTH WHEN HE WAS YOUNG. MARRIED IN 1907. HIS WIFE ANNIE LOUISA WILSON (1888-1982) & 3 CHILDREN LIVED AT THIS ADDRESS (1911 CENSUS). HE ENLISTED IN THE HULL PALS. SERVED WITH THE 11TH EAST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT IN EGYPT AND FRANCE. HE WAS KILLED AT ARRAS ON 28/06/1917, AGED 32. HIS BROTHER, PRIVATE, JOHN BUSBY, DIED WITH HIM AT OPPY WOOD, ON 03/05/1917, AGED 28. NEITHER BODY WAS RECOVERED.
Hull Pals Memorial Post. PRIVATE WALTER PERCY BUSBY 11/1309. Born in June 1885, Walter was one of thirteen children to Thomas and Elizabeth Busby both deceased by the outbreak of war. Walter married Annie Louisa Wilson in September 1907 and the couple resided at 107 Courtney Street, Hull with their three children. A Labourer by trade, he enlisted at City Hall joining the 11th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment, ‘The Tradesmen’, 2nd Hull Pals. A veteran of Egypt, the Somme and Oppy Wood Walter was killed in action on 28th June 1917 and his body was never recovered. He is commemorated on the Arras Memorial; he was 32 years old. His name rests under that of his younger brother John who was killed in action on 3rd May 1917 at Oppy Wood and also never found. There are photographs showing the two brothers and Walter with his family.

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.

First name:

WALTER PERCY

Regiment:

11th East Yorkshire Regiment (Hull Tradesmen)

Military Number:

11/1309

Rank:

Private

Date Died

28/06/1917

Place died:

Arras Memorial, Pas de Calais, France