3598 Private William Astbury, 1/5th Duke of Wellington's Regiment

The information in the box below is an extract from a book called:A Village Goes To War – A History of the Men of Ravensthorpe who fell in the Great War Written By David Tattersfield – Published in 2000. Extract taken March 2008

Text in red are my notes.

WILLIAM ASTBURY 1893 – 1915 William Astbury was born in January 1893, probably in Liverpool and educated at the Holy Trinity School, Grafton Street in Liverpool. William was orphaned and having no relatives was adopted by Mr & Mrs Walton who lived in Norristhorpe near Heckmondwike. It is not known when or how this adoption came about – the distance between Liverpool and the West Riding of Yorkshire indicates there being some connection between Mr & Mrs Walton and that city. It is possible that the Waltons had no connection to Liverpool, I have seen records of Holy Trinity Industrial School which show they sometimes sent orphans to Lancashire and Yorkshire for adoption or (when they were too old for the school) to work and there are documented examples of Liverpool orphanages providing workforces for mills in Yorkshire eg http://www.milltownmemories.org.uk/mm12/11.html The 1911 census shows that William, living with the Waltons in Norristhorpe, and aged 18 was working as a hurrier - someone (usually women or children) who pushed the carts of coal from the coal face to the surface of the mine. Mr Walton was a miner working for the Mirfield Colliery Company While the family lived at Norristhorpe, William attended the Congregational Sunday School in the village and gained a prize in 1913 for the best bowling average in the Sunday school cricket team. He started attending the Ravensthorpe Congregational Sunday School when the family moved to 4 Craven Street, Ravensthorpe, in 1914. Before the war, William was a territorial in the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment. The service record I have seen shows that William attested in the Territorial Force on 14th December 1914, stating he was not, nor had been, a member of any armed forces. On 14th December 1914 he volunteered for overseas service and after being examined by a doctor who recorded his height as (5’ 5”) and chest expansion (36”), passed him fit. The medical record also shows that he was 21 years and 11 months and his vision and physical development were 'good'. His height was actually recorded as 5 feet, 5 and a quarter inches. Leaving his job (in the Dewsbury Reporter he was described as a ‘labourer’), William was allowed 4 days leave at Easter and was then sent abroad with the 5th Battalion, with the rank of private and the regimental number 3598. He sailed from Folkestone on the S.S. Victoria, arriving in France on the 14th April 1915. Besides letters from his family, William received a printed letter from the Yorkshire Congregational Union and another one from a governor of his old Liverpool school which informed him that 220 ‘old boys’ of the school were at the front. He wrote home on the 11th June when he reported that he was in good health, but looking forward to being relieved so as to get a good night’s rest. He also described how they had been in the trenches for the past six days, and “….taking all things into consideration…. Had had a lovely time.” The weather was hot but cool at night, the countryside “….that is what we see of it looks very well and it is a great shame and disgrace to civilization that such a war goes on.” Clearly eager for news from home, he asked for a weekly newspaper to be sent. His last letter home was written on 13th June 1915. Possibly having a premonition of his death, he tells in the letter how he had been reading from his pocket bible. His letter concluded with a quote: “Be prepared for you neither know the hour nor the day when the Son of Man cometh.” The next letter Mr & Mrs Walton received was from Lieutenant Sykes. He wrote that he was “…sorry to inform them that Private Astbury died that morning – 16th – June having been shot in the head whilst on sentry duty. He was buried along with an officer by his comrades near the trenches.” The war diary names William Astbury and Second Lieutenant Crowther as having been killed, with another private being seriously wounded. The war diary also gives us the information that William was in 'B' Company. It doesn't give any information about the time, place or manner of his death. William Astbury is buried in Rue David Cemetery, Fleurbaix, alongside Second Lieutenant Leslie T. Crowther, who was killed on the same day. The early casualties of the battalion are buried in this cemetery, these include the first soldier of the battalion to be killed, Thomas Sheard of Mirfield who died on the 29th April. The Division’s first casualties had been incurred a week earlier on 22nd April, when two men, one from the 1/4th Duke of Wellington’s Regiment and one from the 1/4th York and Lancaster Regiment were killed (one of these soldiers is buried at Rue David Cemetery, the other at Sailly-sur-la-Lys Canadian Cemetery). Rue David Cemetery contains nearly 900 graves, including 17 from the 1/5th Battalion, Duke of Wellington’s Regiment. It is suggested that William Astbury along with other members of the Duke of Wellington’s territorial’s enlisted en- masse the same day.

William was not an inmate at the Holy Trinity Industrial School at the time of the 1901 census and I do not have enough information to identify him in any other 1901 census records.

By the time of the 1911 census, he was living in Ravensthorpe with Walter and Ada Walton - his adoptive parents according to the article quoted above - it is interesting to note that in the 1911 census, William was listed as a lodger at the Waltons' house and on his service papers Mrs Ada Walton was listed as a friend. On the form showing the casualty's family, Mrs Walton completed it to show that William had no living blood relatives and stated that she herself had no relationship to him. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records show that they had her as his next of kin but could not contact her (or she didn't reply to their letters).