Stories of War
This page will link to some of the longer individual and family
stories of people caught up in the war, including first-hand
accounts of what it was like to be in the middle of trench
warfare.
Click on the link to read more.
If there is a story about a member of your family that you would
like to share, please get in touch.
Edgar Marsden
Kermode
DCM, MC & bar, DSO
Story of a much
decorated Shipley man
who made the ultimate
sacrifice aged just 22
William Booth
Captured while looking
after his injured officer
in the first months of
the war. Letters home
tell us what it was like
being a WW1 POW.
William and Ethel
Bottomley
William fought with the
balloon observation
service and was injured
and gassed. Ethel
returned from the USA
to do her bit
Charles Houlden
Member of the Legion
of Frontiersmen who
were sent to East Africa
where they fought
disease as well as the
enemy and where he
was struck down with
malaria and dysentry
Walter Bloye Hall
The second man from
Shipley to be killed in
the First World War.
He wrote home: “Do
not worry or weep
about me, mother. I
am only doing my
duty for my country.”
Harold Jaques
Description of his
journey to the front
line and the logistics
of feeding 18,000 men
in the trenches
William Love
Married while on
leave, he returned to
France and was killed
but his body not
found. His widow
never gave up hope
he would be found
and come home.
George Mitchell
Once challenged world
heavyweight boxing
champion Georges
Carpentier to a bout.
Carpentier wept when
he heard his gutsy
opponent had been
killed in action
George Motley
The impoverished kid
from Dockfield,
Shipley, who was killed
in Ireland in 1921 but
still qualifies for
CWGC gravestone
Cecil Procter
A naval reserve who
became one of
Shipley’s first
casualties when his
ship, the Good Hope,
was sunk with all
hands off the coast of
Chile
George Wright
Awarded DCM and one
of only 180 men to win
MM with two bars but
became disillusioned
after the war when
England didn’t turn out
to be ‘a land fit for
heroes.’
Neville
Stringfellow
A harrowing account
of how this former
Windhill policeman
got separated from
his brother during a
battle and never saw
him again.
Joseph Rowling
Windhill-born
Joseph was sent to
German East Africa
with the Royal
Engineers and died
there in 1916.
Richard Whincup
The vicar of Windhill,
who left his parish to act
as a chaplain on the
Front Line. ‘Mr
Whincup is a splendid
fellow and everybody
regards him as the right
man in the right place.’
Harold Hodgson
His letters give a vivid
account of being under
fire in the front line
and also witnesing
aerial combat
Charles Howe
One of five brothers
serving King and
Country, Charles
provided plenty of
insights to being under
fire and going ‘over the
top’ in his letters
Wm Henry Patchett
A graphic story of how
families, friends, work-
mates and neighbours
were all caught up in
the shared experience
of war and its tragedies
Charles Arthur Hall
Charles was one of the
men killed on the first
day of the Somme and a
poster of him in an
exhibition to mark the
centenary of the battle
led to a family reunion
James Hattersley
A soldier whose love of
horses proved
invaluable during the
war and saw him
awarded the Military
Medal.
Frank Armitage
Despite its horrors, the
war did give some
young men the
opportunity of seeing
places they could only
dream of as Frank
reveals in his many
letters home