BORN HULL 1889. ORIGINAL HULL PAL. SON OF RICHARD & CHARLOTTE THOMPSON NORTH, HULL. DIED OF GAS POISON WOUNDS FROM 04/06/1916.
Born in July 1889, Arthur was the fourth of five children to Richard and Charlotte North of 122 Adelaide Street, Hull. His father was a Railway Ferryboat Man, and before the war Arthur worked as a Dockside Labourer and employed by Messrs. T Bulman & Co, well known in the Hull Fruit Trade. When the call went out for men to fight for King and Country, Arthur was among the first to respond queuing outside Hull City Hall in the first week of September 1914 to join the fledgling 10th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment, “The Commercials”, 1st Hull Pals.
The battalion trained throughout 1915 and left Devonport bound for Alexandria, Egypt at the start of December. They served there in a garrison on high alert in case the Turks chose to attack the Suez Canal. After suffering the burning heat of day and crippling cold of the desert nights for ten weeks, the Pals left Port Said on February 29th 1916 bound for Marseilles and then the train north to the trenches of the Western Front.
On 25th June 1916 a fierce German barrage, itself a response to the British artillery’s onslaught in the days leading up to the 1st July attack on the Somme, completely obliterated the front-line trenches held by the 10th Battalion opposite Serre. During the bombardment, buried cannisters of poison gas ready to be used against the Germans were damaged and leaked into the firebays and dugouts where the men huddled against the storm.
Arthur died as a result of breathing in gas from his own battalion’s supply. He is buried at Bertrancourt Military Cemetery; he was 26 years old.
