BORN HULL 1892. HULL PAL. AKA ‘JIM’. SON OF HENRY JAMES JEFFREY & ETHEL JEFFREY, OF 45 LISTER STREET, HULL. AND 69 , GREAT THORNTON ST, HULL (WAR PENSION ADDRESS). HE HAD THREE BROTHERS AND TWO SISTERS. HE WAS THE GRANDSON OF CAPTAIN, GEORGE JEFFREY. HE WAS SENT TO A WAKEFIELD REFORMATORY SCHOOL, ON 07/10/1907 FOR STEALING BAGS FROM THE DOCKS. HE WAS DESCRIBED AS BLUE EYES, LIGHT BROWN HAIR, SLIGHT BUILD, CHURCH OF ENGLAND RELIGION. HE WAS NOT HARSHLY TREATED AT HOME. HIS FATHER HAD A GOOD JOB AS A DOCK FOREMAN AND SHIP’S RIGGER.
AFTER LEAVNG SCHOOL, LAWRENCE WORKED FOR MESSRS HOLMES, ENGINEERS, AS A BRASS MOULDER’S LABOURER, BOARDING AT 46 LISTER STREET (1911 CENSUS).
HE ENLISTED IN HULL. SERVED WITH THE 10TH EAST YORKSHIRE BATTALION (HULL COMMERCIALS), IN EGYPT AND FRANCE. KILLED IN ACTION ON 29/10/1916, AGED 24. A SHELL BURST KILLED HIM AND ANOTHER WHILE ON A PATROL. HIS DEATH WAS REPORTED IN THE HULL DAILY MAIL, ON 10/11/1916. HIS BODY WAS CARRIED BACK TO THE TRENCHES. HIS SERGEANT DESCRIBED LAURIE, AS “ONE OUR BEST MEN”.
HE IS REMEMBERED ON THE THIEPVAL MEMORIAL TO THE MISSING. HIS ARMY EFFECTS WERE RETURNED TO HIS FATHER HENRY. HIS BROTHERS WILLIAM & GEORGE JEFFREY WERE ALSO KILLED IN ACTION. HE LEFT SISTERS, ZELMA & IVY.
Hull Pals Memorial Post. PRIVATE LAWRENCE FREDERICK JEFFREY 10/422. Born 1893, the eldest of six children to Henry and Ethel Jeffrey of 45 Lister Street, Hull. Lawrence was a Brass Moulder’s Labourer by trade, but enlisted in the heady days of early September 1914. Philip Larkin described the scene in his poem ‘MCMXIV’: “Never such innocence/Never before or since/As changed itself to past/Without a word”. He was part of a patrol sent out to reconnoitre No Man’s Land on October 29th 1916, the battalion was posted in the trenches opposite the French village of Hebuterne, and were to lead an attack against the German positions there in the coming days. He didn’t come back. This was the same patrol as Thomas Percival Millard. Both men enlisted on the same day, died on the same day and neither body was recovered. Brothers in arms indeed. His name is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the missing of the Somme.
His brother, Lance Corporal, William Henry Jeffrey, 33459, Yorkshire regiment was killed, on 02/04/1917.
His brother, Private, George David Jeffrey, 49986, Lincolnshire Regiment, was killed in action, on 21/03/1918.
