BORN HEDON 1897. SON OF WILLIAM HENRY CAUTLEY (1870-1950) & MARGARET HOLMES STATHER (1870-1932), OF 1 GEORGE STREET, HEDON (CWGC ADDRESS). ONE OF ELEVEN CHILDREN, SEVEN OF WHICH SURVIVED INFANCY. HE ENLISTED IN THE 11TH EAST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT (2ND HULL PALS), ON 08/09/1914. HIS ARMY RECORDS, DESCRIBE HIM AS 5 FOOT, 6 INCHES TALL, 129 LBS WEIGHT, 34.5 INCH CHEST SIZE, AND A TATOO. HE SERVED IN EGYPT, AND ARRIVED IN FRANCE ON 08/03/1916. HE DIED OF WOUNDS, AT OPPY WOOD, ON 04/05/1917, AGED 20. UNMARRIED. HIS ARMY EFFECTS WERE LEFT TO HIS FATHER, WILLIAM. THEY INCLUDED, LETTERS, PHOTOS, CARDS, A KNIFE, CIGARETTE CASE, RELIGIOUS BOOK, A CAP BADGE AND TWO HORSE SHOE CHARMS. HE HAD SERVED IN THE ARMY FOR 2 YEARS AND 189 DAYS. HIS DEATH WAS REPORTED IN THE HULL DAILY MAIL, ON 03/05/1918. HE IS BURIED AT DUISANS BRITISH CEMETERY, FRANCE. HIS GRAVE INSCRIPTION READS, “EVER IN THOUGHT”. HIS NAME IS RECORDED ON THE HEDON WAR MEMORIAL, IVY LANE HEDON. ONE OF 18 HEDON MEN TO DIED IN THE WAR, INCLUDING HIS BROTHER, SERGEANT, LAURENCE CAUTLEY, MM, 8TH YORKSHIRE REGIMENT WHO DIED IN ITALY, ON 28/10/1918. ALSO LISTED ON THE BILTON WW1 MEMORIAL, AT ST PETERS CHURCH, BILTON (57 SERVED , 6 DIED).
Hull Pals Memorial Post. PRIVATE WALTER JAMES CAUTLEY 11/544. Born in 1897, Walter was the third of eleven children to William and Margaret Cautley of 1 George Street, Hedon. A Carpenter’s Labourer by trade, he queued outside Hull City Hall on 8th September 1914 to enlist for the fledgling 11th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment, ‘The Tradesmen’, 2nd Hull Pals. A veteran of Egypt and the Somme, and a machine gunner, Walter suffered a wound to his left hand in a bizarre accident on 6th April 1917. With the number of potentially self-inflicted wounds rising, there was much emphasis on any injuries sustained out of combat, and the report is in with Walter’s records:
“At 11.30am,” it records, “he was cleaning his revolver and ammunition . He had finished cleaning the revolver and had left it open. He found a loose cartridge on the ground and picked it up with his left hand. He was holding the revolver in his right hand and was working the trigger. He steadied the revolver with his left hand and had forgotten about the round…..the striker came into contact with the cap and exploded the cartridge.”
Ouch. It was concluded however that Walter was “in no way to blame” and having been patched up he rejoined his comrades soon after. Unlucky in a lot of ways. Had that wound been a little more serious, he would have been out of the line when the battalion attacked Oppy Wood. He would not have suffered a serious abdominal wound, and would not have been withdrawn to 8th Casualty Clearing Station, and would not have died of wounds on 4th May 1917. Walter James Cautley is buried at Duisans British Cemetery; he was 20 years old. Alas the family tragedy does not end there. Walter’s elder brother Laurence was killed in action on 28th October 1918 whilst serving as a Sergeant in the Alexandra, Princess of Wales Own Yorkshire Regiment in Italy, a few days before the Armistice.
