Scarborough 1914-18

Scarborough through the First World War remembered

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Goodrick, Edith M

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Name: Edith Mary Goodrick

Ranks: Sister and Staff Nurse

Service no: tbc

Regiment/service: Territorial Force Nursing Service

 

Paul Allen writes:

Edith Goodrick served during the conflict as a Sister and Staff Nurse with the Territorial Force Nursing Service.

She was the sister of William Goodrick, who was killed in the war, and Arthur Goodrick, who also served in the war and survived.

At the time of the 1901 Census of Scarborough’s population the Goodricks resided at 69 Eastborough, the family consisting of Richard, 38 years of age, employed as a postman, Jessie, 37 years, Edith Mary (18), Jane Beatrice (16), Alfred (Arthur?) (14), Thomas (12), John Richard (10), Alice (7), Robert Edward (4), William (2), and Jessie, aged 5 months. All were born in Scarborough.

Paul Allen

Goodrick, Arthur E

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Name: Arthur Edward Goodrick

Rank: tbc

Service no: 86038

Regiment/service: Royal Field Artillery

 

Paul Allen writes:

Arthur Goodrick, a former Scarborough postman, served during the war (Regimental Number 86038) with the Royal Field Artillery and although wounded during September 1916 he survived the war together with his sister Edith Mary who served during the conflict as a Sister and Staff Nurse with the Territorial Nursing Service.

He was the brother of William Goodrick, who was killed in the war.

 

At the time of the 1901 Census of Scarborough’s population the Goodricks resided at 69 Eastborough, the family consisting of Richard, 38 years of age, employed as a postman, Jessie, 37 years, Edith Mary (18), Jane Beatrice (16), Alfred (Arthur?) (14), Thomas (12), John Richard (10), Alice (7), Robert Edward (4), William (2), and Jessie, aged 5 months. All were born in Scarborough.

Paul Allen

 

Pottage, John

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Name: John Pottage

Rank: Private (assumed, to be verified)

Service No: SE 11204

Regiment/Service: Royal Army Veterinary Corps (att Royal Field Artillery)

 

Paul Allen writes:

Despite being aged over 50 at the outbreak of war, Tom Pottage’s father, John Pottage, enlisted into the army soon after the outbreak of war and served with the Royal Army Veterinary Corps (Regimental Number SE 11204) in France on attachment to 280 Brigade, the Royal Field Artillery.

Unlike his son, John survived to return to Scarborough following his demobilisation in 1919.

John Pottage was a well-known Scarborough cab driver who, by 1918, resided in the town at 59 Seaton Terrace, Hibernia Street.

John Pottage and Clara Fox were married in Scarborough’s St Mary’s Parish Church on 16 January 1895. At the time of the 1901 Census the family were still living at 6 Wrea Lane and consisted of John, aged 34 years, cab driver, Clara, 29 years, Tom (recorded as ‘Harry’) (5), Emma (‘Minnie’?) (aged 4). All were Scarborough born. The family was later augmented by Clara (1902), John (popularly known as ‘Jack’, born 1905, died 1969), George (born 1909, died 1983), and Frederick Albert (born 1910, died 1992), and Frances (1914). Jack Pottage served in the Merchant Navy during the Second World War, when he was torpedoed twice whilst on convoy duty.

Paul Allen

Brackenbury, Albert V

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Name: Albert Victor Brackenbury

Rank: Deck Hand

Service No: 940/DA

Date of Death: 25/11/1918

Age: 24

Regiment/Service: Royal Naval Reserve H M Trawler “Principal.”

Grave Reference: E. 27. 33. Cemetery: Scarborough (Dean Road) Cemetery

Additional Information: husband of Lizzie Priscilla Brackenbury, of 8, Friar’s Entry, Scarborough.

CWGC reference

 

Paul Allen writes:

For many years after her husband Alan’s death Emily Mary Barraclough lived with her 2 children Joseph Mickman and Rene, at 33 Friargate, a house they had shared with Emily’s younger sister, Lizzie Priscilla Brackenbury (formerly Cape), who was also a ‘war widow’.

Lizzie was the wife of 940/DA Deck Hand Albert Victor Brackenbury, Royal Naval Reserve, who had died whilst serving in HM Trawler ‘Principal’ from the effects of bronchopneumonia, at the Rosyth Naval Hospital, aged 24, on 25 November 1918.

Albert was subsequently interred in Scarborough’s Dean Road Cemetery; his grave is located in Section E, Row 27, Grave 33.

Lizzie Brackenbury passed away at the age of 69 on Tuesday, 3 April 1962, and was buried in the grave at Manor Road following a service at the Bethel Mission, which was located at the time in Sandside.

Paul Allen

 

Editor’s note: it is not yet clear why Albert Brackenbury’s name is not listed on the Oliver’s Mount memorial.

Bielby, John W

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Name: John William Bielby

Rank: Sergeant

Regiment/service: Yorkshire Regiment, 1st/5th Battalion

 

Paul Allen writes:

Tommy Bielby’s memorial also contains the name of Tommy’s younger brother John William Bielby.

More popularly known as ‘Jack’, he also served in the war, first as a Private [Regimental Number 1972] and eventually a Sergeant in the Scarborough-based Territorial Force 1st/5th Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment. A veteran of the 5th Battalion’s so called ‘Baptism of Fire’ at St Julien (April 1915), Jack served throughout the remainder of the war with this unit until his de-mobilisation during 1919.

Married at Scarborough’s St Saviour’s Church on 25 August 1918 to Florence ‘Flo’ Clarkson (the youngest daughter of Hull confectioner J R Clarkson), Jack died in Scarborough at his home at 19 West Square (probably as a result of the effects of severe gas poisoning received during the war) on Tuesday, 11 May 1948. Aged 55 years at the time of his death Jack was the father of John Bielby. He was cremated at Hull following a service at St Saviour’s Church, which took place during the morning of Friday, 14 May 1948.

Paul Allen

Barker, John T (2)

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Name: John Thompson Barker

Rank: Private (assumed, to be verified)

Regimental No: 30495

Unit: Yorkshire Regt, thence Labour Corps

 

Paul Allen writes:

Jack Barker’s 40-year-old ex-Grenadier Guardsman father, John Thompson Barker, also enlisted into the Yorkshire Regiment, at the Regimental Depot at Richmond, on 16 June 1916. He served (with Regimental Number 30495) as a labourer on ‘Home Service’ with the 202nd Agricultural Company of the Regiment until 1917 when he was transferred to the Labour Corps.

Unlike his only son, he survived the war to return to Scarborough following his ‘demob’ in December 1918.

Paul Allen

Barker, John T

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Name: John Thomas Barker

Rank: Lance Corporal

Service No: 203462

Date of Death: 14/09/1916

Age: 18

Regiment/Service: York and Lancaster Regiment 1st/4th Bn.

Grave Reference: C. 13. Cemetery: Caudry Old Communal Cemetery

Additional Information: son of John Thompson Barker and Ann Barker, of 59 Caledonia St, Scarborough.

CWGC reference

 

Paul Allen writes:

Bearing in mind that during the Great War a typical battalion of infantry had consisted of around one thousand all ranks, between 1 – 25 September 1916 the 1st/4th York and Lancaster Regiment lost 21 officers and 731 other ranks killed, wounded, and missing. Amongst them was: 203462 Lance Corporal John Thomas Barker.

‘Jack’ Barker was born in the village of Hutton Buscel during 1898 and was the only son of John Thompson [1] and Ann (formerly Robinson) Barker. Living in Scarborough at 59 Caledonia Street by the outbreak of war, Jack enlisted in Scarborough into the 2nd/5th Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment (Regimental Number 2429) at the start of hostilities and followed much the same military pathway as Lance Corporal Gray throughout the remainder of his short life.

Listed as missing in action in a casualty list that was included in ‘The Scarborough Mercury’ of Friday, 6 October 1916, Jack Barker was eventually recorded as having been killed in action during Thursday, 14 September 1916. However, further research by the author indicates that he had possibly been wounded and taken prisoner at an earlier date due to the fact that the 18-year-old soldier’s remains were interred some distance from the Somme Sector in a cemetery that was been used by various German Medical Units from 1914 until virtually the end of the war.

Jack’s final resting place is located in Section C, Grave 13, in Caudry Old Communal Cemetery, which is located in Northern France in the town of Caudry, some 13 kilometres to the east of the city of Cambrai.

[1] Interestingly, Jack’s 40-year-old, ex-Grenadier Guardsman father, John Thompson Barker, also enlisted into the Yorkshire Regiment.

Paul Allen

Gray, Ernest

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Rank: Lance Corporal

Service No: 203484

Date of Death: 02/05/1917

Regiment/Service: York and Lancaster Regiment 1st/4th Bn

Awards: MM (Military Medal)

Grave Reference: III. B. 12. Cemetery: Pont-du-Hem Military Cemetery, La Gorgue

CWGC reference

 

Paul Allen writes:

During 2 May 1917 Scarborough lost: 203484 Lance Corporal Ernest Gray MM.

Born in Scarborough during 1899 at 101 Commercial Street, Ernest was the eldest son of ‘Foreman Butcher’ Robert Barker and Annie Elizabeth (formerly Wharton) Gray. Fatherless from the age of 7, Ernest lived for most of his short life with his mother and 3 younger siblings Hilda, Olive, and Robert (born at Scarborough 1901, 1903, and 1906 respectively) at 3 St Johns Road. He was educated at the nearby All Saint’s Church Infant, and Gladstone Road Council Schools. Leaving school like most children of the time at the age of 13, Ernest become an apprentice to joiner Mr Spink, whose workshop was located in Belle Vue Street.

Ernest enlisted into the locally-based Territorial Force 2nd/5th Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment for 4 years service in the United Kingdom in Scarborough at North Street Barracks (this building would eventually become the YMCA until its demolition during the 1980s; the site is now (2011) occupied by a TKMaxx store), on 10 November 1914. Aged 17 years, two months at the time, according to his service record (courtesy of Ancestry.com), Ernest is also recorded as being 5 feet 6½ inches in height, with ‘normal’ vision and ‘good’ physical development. Issued with the Regimental Number 2689, a uniform, 2 pairs of boots and all the other accoutrements of an infantry soldier, Gray had set off on his journey to the war.

Formed in Scarborough during September 1914 for Home Service only, to replace the Western Front bound 1st/5th Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment the 2nd/5th Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment initially had its headquarters in the town’s Grand Hotel. However, by the time that Ernest joined the unit it was stationed at Darlington, where Private Gray joined soon after his enlistment. Remaining in training at Darlington until April 1915, Private Gray and the remainder of the Battalion moved to Benton Camp, near Newcastle, and stayed in this location until the start of April 1916, when all those men regarded as ‘A1’ were ‘asked’ to volunteer for foreign service. Duly, during the night of 6 July 1916, he went the way of so many thousands of ‘Tommies’ before him by boarding His Majesty’s Transport ‘Golden Eagle’. Arriving at Boulogne the following day, Ernest was sent to one of the many Infantry Base Depots [IBDs] located near the town of Etaples.

Assigned to the 37th (Territorial Force) IBD Gray underwent intensive infantry training at this Depot in large training areas located in the  expanse of sand dunes located near ‘Eat Apples’ known to the men as ‘the Bull Ring’, where he endured seemingly endless hours of exhaustive drill and exercises overseen by bellowing and often sadistic instructors known to the men as ‘Yellow Canaries’ (due to the yellow armbands they wore). Private Gray endured the rigours of the Bull Ring until Monday, 17 July 1916. Posted to 1st/4th York and Lancaster instead of the Yorkshire Regiment, Gray exchanged his Yorkshire Regiment ‘Eiffel Tower’ cap badge for that of the ‘Cat and Cabbage’ of the York and Lancs and duly joined his battalion on 18 July whilst it was ‘resting’ at Forceville.

Attached to 148 Brigade of the Territorial Force 49th (West Riding) Division, the 1st/4th (Hallamshire) Battalion of the York and Lancashire Regiment was a pre-war Territorial Force battalion of infantry. Located at Sheffield at the outbreak of hostilities the Battalion went to France during April 1915 and took part in the battle which included the first German phosgene gas attack during December that year whilst stationed on in the Yser Canal Sector to the north of Ypres. Involved in some of the heaviest fighting of the opening stages of the Somme of 1916, including the Battle of Albert (1-13 July), by the time that Ernest Gray joined the 1/4 York and Lancs the unit had recently been involved in the ferocious fighting on the Ancre, where on 16 July the unit was involved in an attack on Ovillers where it helped to fight off a German counter-attack on the ‘Leipzig Salient’ that had been spearheaded by bombing and flamethrowers.

Throughout the remainder of August Gray and his battalion were stationed in various sectors of the Somme: Martinsart Wood (4 August); Hedauville (7 August); Puchvillers (18 August); Hedauville (25 August); Aveluy Wood (26 August); and back to Martinsart Wood on 2 September. The following day the Battalion moved into the front line of the formidable Thiepval Sector. Ernest took part in operations on the Somme throughout the remainder of the month when, between 15-22 September, he took part in the Battle of Flers/Courcelette. It was during this action that the 18-year-old and a number of comrades were buried alive in a dugout that was hit by an enemy shell. The first to dig himself out, the dazed youngster, nonetheless, played a part in the rescue of the other trapped men. Displaying ‘conspicuous gallantry’ during this episode in his life Ernest was awarded the Military Medal (the award was ‘Gazetted’ in ‘The London Gazette’ of 14 November 1916).

Promoted to Acting (unpaid) Lance Corporal shortly after the Battle of Flers/ Courcelette (28 September 1916), Ernest Gray remained on the Somme throughout the bitter winter of 1916. However, by April 1917 his unit had moved further northwards to the French/Belgian border where, on 2 May 1917, Ernest killed by enemy shellfire, whilst resting in a house in the village of Pont-du-Hem that had come under fire from enemy artillery. Reportedly writing a letter to his mother at the time of his death, this part-written letter eventually reached Scarborough where his family found that the letter also contained a preserved Flanders poppy. His mother displayed the poppy on her mantelpiece for many years after Ernest’s death. [1]

Aged 18 at the time of his demise, the young soldier’s remains were taken to a small a battlefield cemetery located in an area that had once been an apple orchard near Pont-du Hem, a hamlet located on the main road between La Bassée and Estaires, where they were interred in Section 3, Row B, Grave 12.

Ernest’s name was included in a casualty list that appeared in ‘The Scarborough Mercury’ of Friday, 11 May 1917. Included in the small segment of news dedicated to the youngster’s loss was part of a letter from his Commanding Officer that had been sent to Ernest’s mother stating… ‘He will be sadly missed out here as he has always been a good soldier’…

Commemorated on Scarborough’s Oliver’s Mount War Memorial, Ernest Gray was a former member of the congregation of All Saints Church in Falsgrave and his name was also duly added to the church ‘Roll of Honour’ that contained the names of 41 men of the church who had lost their lives during the war of 1914-1918. Unveiled during the evening of Wednesday, 27 July 1921 by Lt Col A D  Legard CBE, Officer Commanding the local 1/5 Battalion of the Green Howards (Yorkshire Regiment) this fine memorial took the form of an oak screen and cost the church over £150. It remained in the church until its demise in the 1970s. However, the author does not know the current whereabouts of this memorial.

Ernest’s name can also be found, to this day on a large brass plate ‘Roll of Honour’ located in the Junior Hall of Gladstone Road School. Unveiled on 14 December 1921 by Ernest’s former Headmaster, Mr William Robert Drummond, this memorial contains the names of the 71 other former pupils of the school (including sisters Esther W and Maria M McLaughlin who died at Scarborough during 1918 of ‘Spanish Flu’ whilst acting as nurses with the Voluntary Aid Detachment aged 25 and 21 years respectively) who lost their lives whilst on active service in the Great War of 1914-1918.

[1] I am indebted to my very good friend Mr Bill Parker for his assistance in the gathering of information relating to his great uncle Ernest Gray. I am especially grateful that he had told me the story of the letter with the preserved poppy enclosed which provided a moving and emotive end to the story of a very brave young soldier of Scarborough, God bless him.

Paul Allen

Sails, George T B

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Name: George Tyco Brooksbanks Sails

Rank: Private

Regiment: Northumberland Fusiliers

Unit: 19th (Service) Battalion

Regimental No: 472947

Joe Sail’s elder brother, George Tyco Brooksbanks Sails, was born and grew up in Scarborough during 1876. He was married in Scarborough to Edith May Allison on 26 December 1907.

Residing in Doncaster at 41 Cooper Street at the outbreak of war in August 1914, George was the father of three children (Scarborough-born (1909) George Edgar, Kenneth Allison (18 February 1911) and Doncaster-born Edith Mary (4 July 1914). George was employed as a tailor in civilian life and, although aged over 40, he enlisted into the army during 1916 to eventually serve on the Western Front with the 19th (Service) Battalion of the Northumberland Fusiliers (Regimental No 472947), employed as a ‘Company tailor’.

Considered as unfit for front line service by the start of 1918, George was transferred to the Labour Corps and was discharged from the army on 21 February 1919, when he had returned to his family at Doncaster, where another daughter, Marjorie, was born during 1932. Sadly, a year after the birth of his daughter, George Sails passed away at the relatively young age of 57 years at Doncaster, possibly as a result of his military service.

(Most of the above information has been gleaned from George Sails’s service record courtesy of Ancestry.com).

Paul Allen

Snowden, Thomas E

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L/Corporal Thomas Edwin Snowden

Name: Thomas (‘Ted’) Edwin Snowden

Rank: Lance Corporal

Service No: 15143

Date of Death: 27/05/1918

Age: 21

Regiment/Service: Yorkshire Regiment, 5th Bn.

Commemorated: Grave Reference: I. I. 18. Cemetery: Hangard Communal Cemetery Extension

Additional CWGC Information: son of Edwin Snowden, of 63 Dean Rd, Scarborough.

CWGC reference

 

For some reason, Ted’s name was not recorded on Scarborough’s Oliver’s Mount War Memorial until 2010, though his service and sacrifice had been noted elsewhere.

According to research carried out by Paul Allen, Ted Snowden was born at 18 Sandringham Street in Scarborough on 16 December 1896, the only son of hay and straw dealer Edwin Snowden and wife Hannah, formerly Hepworth.

He was baptised in the town’s Jubilee Methodist Chapel on 3 February 1897 and his name had been included on a “roll of honour” that had been displayed in the foyer of that building until its demise in 1970 when it was demolished to make way for a building that today is Scarborough’s Job Centre.

The whereabouts of that memorial to the men of the church who lost their lives during the Great War is not known.

An apprentice electrician and living in Seamer when war broke out, Ted enlisted into the army at Scarborough soon after the German naval bombardment of the town in December 1914. Joining the Yorkshire Regiment, he initially served with the 10th Battalion and received his “baptism of fire” during the Battle of Loos in September 1915. Fortunate not to be among more than 300 casualties suffered by the Battalion at Loos, Ted went on to serve with this unit throughout the Somme offensive of 1916 and the Third Battle of Ypres and Arras Offensive of 1917.

By the end of 1917, the battle-worn 10th Battalion was stationed in France at Moislains but, at the start of February the following year, the unit was disbanded in an army reorganisation. Its officers and men were posted to other units of the Yorkshire Regiment, with Ted joining the 5th Battalion. After two years of service on the Western Front, he returned to Seamer on 14 March 1918 to enjoy some leave, but was recalled back to France soon after, probably due to the beginning of the German Spring Offensives. A postcard to his family back home, telling them that he had arrived safely, was the last they would hear from him. Relatives were told Ted had been killed in action on 25 May 1918 and although that is the date recorded by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Mr Allen says the evidence suggests he was probably killed before this date, perhaps soon after rejoining the regiment on the Somme, not long after the start of the German Spring Offensive.

The remains of Ted Snowden can be found in Section 1, Row I, Grave 18 in Hangard Communal Cemetery, which is around five kilometres south of Viller-Bretonneux.

Although the Jubilee Methodist Chapel roll of honour has long since gone, Ted’s name has been included on a brass plate roll of honour that to this day can be found in Seamer’s St Martin’s Church.

Mr Allen said: “Writing [my] book has been an incredibly humbling experience and it’s a privilege to be able to share these many stories of courage and bravery. I also feel incredibly proud that my research has led to the inclusion of Lance Corporal Snowden’s name on Scarborough’s main war memorial.”

Ted Snowden’s nephew, John Snowden, a retired electrician from Mansfield said: “I am very pleased to have my uncle’s name included on the Scarborough war memorial. Ted was my dad’s hero and was never forgotten within the family. Aged just 21 when he died, his place on the war memorial is justly deserved and I am very grateful to Mr Allen for his help in ensuring that my uncle’s name will be seen by generations to come.”

John Anderson from the Scarborough branch of the Royal British Legion said: “It is fitting that Lance Corporal Snowden’s name could be added to the Oliver’s Mount monument in time for Remembrance Sunday. He will be in our thoughts and prayers, along with the many hundreds of servicemen and women from Scarborough who have served their country proud.”

Image and additional information sourced from: http://www.thescarboroughnews.co.uk/news/forgotten-hero-is-finally-honoured-1-2754879

 

 

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