BORN YORK 1884. SON OF GEORGE & MARY PURCELL, AT 6, ARNON VILLAS, EPWORTH STREET, HULL.
HIS WIFE, BLANCHE PURCELL LIVED, 346 WHITLANDS ROAD, ASHTON UNDER LYME, LANCS.
PRIOR TO WAR HE WORKED FOR ROBSON’S CEMENT WORKS, STONEFERRY AS A LABOURER. HE WAS A RESERVIST WHO HAD SERVED IN THE BOER WAR AND WAS RECALLED AT THE OUTBREAK OF WAR.
HE SERVED AS A SERGEANT IN THE WEST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT. KILLED IN ACTION ON THE 1ST JULY 1916, ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE SOMME BATTLE. HE WAS AGED 32 AND IS COMMEMORATED ON THE THIEPVAL MEMORIAL TO THE MISSING.
HE LEFT A WIDOW AND TWO CHILDREN. HIS DEATH WAS REPORTED IN THE HULL DAILY MAIL, ON THE 3RD JULY 1917, WITH HIS PHOTOGRAPH. *
The 10th West Yorkshire Battalion became the heaviest hit unit in the entire British Army on any single day of action on 1st July 1916. The official battalion war diary for this day, records losses as 750 soldiers and 27 officers, killed, missing and wounded. At dawn on 1st July the 10th Battalion had begun their attack with around 900 men. By nightfall they numbered barely more than 125. Men of the 10th Battalion were attacking the German-held village of Fricourt on this day. They left their trenches at 7.30am following the cessation of an artillery bombardment, attacking the German position across no mans land in four waves.
The first two waves of the attack successfully reached German lines without substantial losses. Whilst they were doing so, however, German soldiers who were largely unaffected by the artillery bombardment preceding the attack, emerged from their dugouts and mounted their machine guns. As the final two waves of attack were launched from the 10th Battalion West Yorkshire Regiments trenches, the men were walking into a wall of machine gun fire. These two waves of men were virtually annihilated. Those who had reached German trenches earlier in the offensive had to make their way back across no mans land without support, resulting in more casualties. Due to the immense bravery and courage required from men continuing in the attack despite heavy losses, all survivors from 10th Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment were awarded a gallantry medal. These medals included the Distinguished Conduct Medal, Military Cross and Military Medal.
