Lieutenant, Hugh Sheardown Staveley, 11th East Yorkshires
BORN NORTH DALTON, YORKSHIRE, 1889. SON OF JOHN ALFRED STAVELEY (1851-1912) AND KATE SHEARDOWN (1856-1908). HIS FATHER WAS A LANDOWNER FARMER AND JUSTICE OF THE PEACE. ONE OF SIX CHILDREN AND FOUR SISTERS. EDUCATED AT JESUS COLLEGE CAMBRIDGE IN OCTOBER 1907. HE GRADUATED IN LAW IN 1910. WORKED AS AN ARTICLED SOLICITOR’S CLERK, BOARDING AT THE “BYLAND” ON BEVERLEY HIGH ROAD.
HE ENLISTED HULL. COMMISSIONED INTO THE 11TH EAST YORKSHIRE REGEIMENT IN MAY 1915. MISSING AT THE BATTLE OF OPPY WOOD, ON 03/05/1917, AGED 28. HIS DEATH WAS CONFIRMED IN NOVEMBER 1917. UNMARRIED AND WITH NO CHILDREN. HE LEFT £8,804 TO HIS SISTER ZOE ANNIE TOLSON, WHO WAS A WIDOW AT THIS PROBATE ADDRESS.
The attack on Oppy Wood, part of the Battle of Arras, was a significant battle for the East Yorkshire Regiment and particularly for the city of Hull. All four Hull Pals battalions were involved on 3 May and all suffered heavy casualties, with 40% of those present killed or injured. 2nd Lieutenant Jack Harrison, a local teacher and rugby player with Hull FC, won a posthumous Victoria Cross for his bravery in rushing a machine gun position to protect his platoon. His body was never found.The village of Oppy in France had been in German hands since October 1914 and was part of a formidable defensive system including trenches, dug-outs and thick barbed wire defences. During the Battle of Arras, which began in April 1917, the British tried to take Oppy. The first attack was a failure. A second attack was partially successful. The third attack on 3 May, known officially as the Third Battle of the Scarpe, was again unsuccessful with significant loss of life. The troops were ordered to attack at 3.45am, rather than at dawn, and the defending Germans could easily see the line of British soldiers clearly lit by the full moon. The British continued to attack Oppy and were finally successful the following year. The City of Hull Memorial at Oppy was unveiled in 1927 and commemorates the men of the Hull Pals who were killed on 3 and 4 May 1917.
