BORN HESSLE 1892. HULL PAL. SON OF GEOFFREY WILLIAM & KATE ASBRIDGE HORSFIELD. KILLED BY ‘MINNIE EXPLOSION. FIRST 10TH EYR CASUALTY OF WW1. PAINTER. HE IS BURIED AT AUCHONVILLERS MILITARY CEMETERY, SOMME, FRANCE. HIS GRAVE READS, “HE DIED THAT OTHERS MIGHT LIVE”.
Hull Pals Memorial Post: Stanley was the first Hull Pal to lose his life in combat. They had arrived to defend positions near the French village of Engelbelmer on 27th March 1916. Two days later, at precisely 6.16pm, three Minenwerfer trench mortar shells were fired at their positions. One failed to explode. One killed a young man in the prime of his life. The Battalion War Diary noted: “Weather very cold.”
The Hull News of 5th April 1916 read: “Mr and Mrs Horsfield, of 12 Curzon Street, Newington, Hull, have received intimation that their son, Private Stanley Horsfield, of the Hull ‘Commercial’ Battalion, has been killed in action.
The Rev. RM Kedward, the Chaplain to the battalion, in a letter to the bereaved parents says:- ‘I write to express my deepest sympathy with you in your sad bereavement. Your son Stanley has given his life fighting for his country.He died in the trenches on the evening of Wednesday, March 29th. He suffered no pain, as death was instantaneous. He is buried in a little cemetery just to the back of the lines. I will give you the name of the place as soon as the military regulations permit. He was a brave lad, and the fIrst of our battalion to make the “great sacrifce” for Britain. My heart goes out to you in your loneliness and sorrow. May the God of all comfort sustain you in this hour of trial. Again expressing the sympathy of all the offIcers and men;- Yours faithfully, RM Kedward, CF.”
Private Stanley Horsfield, who was 24 years of age, was prior to enlistment a painter and decorator in the employ of Mr JH Fenwick, Anlaby Road, and was highly esteemed by all who knew him. A lover of football, he played for the North Newington Church club as goalkeeper, and was chosen for the local Church League.
Private Aust spoke of the incident a little more prosaically: “Each dawn and dusk there was what was known as a ‘Stand To’ when every man stood at his ‘alarm post’ ready
for instant action. There was a sharp artillery bombardment (known as a ‘strafe’) of the trenches by both sides for some 10-15 minutes which then died down to normal. At each ‘strafe’ Gerry sent over three ‘minnies’. At that time these were like five gallon oil drums filled with high explosive and shrapnel and you could see them turning over and over as they catapulted towards you- a very unnerving sight. Our first fatal casualty was caused by one
of these. It was our battalion goalkeeper and a cynic is reported to have remarked, ‘he has stopped one at last’.”
