Click here to eThe War Memorial in East Witton
 
The War Memorial at East Witton is inscribed as follows;-
 
MCM XIV  XVIII
 
JOSEPH ALLEN
FRANK ATKINSON
ROBERT S ATKINSON
JOHN BOWES
JOHN CARRUTHERS
B W GREENHALGH
JOSEPH HUTCHINSON
JOHN LEAKE RN
JOHN MAUGHAN
GODFREY METCALFE
JOHN G TOWLER
MANSELL WAITE
EDWIN WRIGHT
 
In a separate plaque
 
Thomas B Maughan
1939-1945
 
And a recently added circular tablet laid in the ground by the Memorial is inscribed:
 
Private Arthur Poulter
Duke of Wellington’s West Riding Regiment
10 April 1918
 
 
Those who Fell in WW1
 
ALLEN, Joseph
Private, 7th (Service) Battalion, Alexandra, Princess of Wales’s Own, (Yorkshire Regiment), 15 Brigade, 17th Division. Army no. 28316.
He was killed in action on Thursday 8 February, 1917 on the Somme. He was 32.
He was the son of Thomas and Amelia Allen and the husband of Jane A Allen, East Witton.
He is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial.       
His name is also commemorated on the headstone of the Kenbray family in the Churchyard of St John’s Church, East Witton.
 
ATKINSON, Frank
Private, 10th (Prince of Wales's Own Royal) Hussars, 6 Cavalry Brigade, 3rd Cavalry Division. Army no. 12694.
He was killed in action on Saturday 23 March 1918 on the Somme.
He was the son of Nathan and Mary Ann Atkinson, Danzig Farm, Thornton Steward
He is remembered on the Pozières Memorial.
And his brother
ATKINSON, Robert Stockdale
Private, 1st Battalion, Canterbury Infantry Regiment, New Zealand Expeditionary Force. Army no. 6/2922
He was killed in action on Sunday 17 September 1916 near Flers. He was 21.
He was the son of Nathan and Mary Ann Atkinson, Danby Lodge, Middleham and was living with his brother in Stoneyhurst, Canterbury, New Zealand.
He is remembered on the Caterpillar Valley (New Zealand) Memorial which is in the Caterpillar Valley Cemetery near Longueval, France.
 
BATES, Joseph
Private, 407th Agricultural Company, Labour Corps. Army no 454634. He also served as Private, Army no 37082 with 4th Battalion, Alexandra, Princess of Wales’s Own, (Yorkshire Regiment).
He died on Saturday 9 March 1918 in East Witton.  As he had been transferred to a non-combative unit it is probable that he was medically unfit to be an active soldier.
He was the son of Mr E Bates, 11 Solent Street, off Hillkirk Street, Manchester.
He is buried in the Churchyard of St John the Evangelist’s Church, East Witton. He is buried as a Private in the Yorkshire Regiment not The Labour Corps.
 
BOWES, John Emerson
Private, 3rd Battalion, Coldstream Guards. Army no. 18159.
He died on 18 October 1920 in Becketts Park Hospital, Leeds. He was 22.
He was the son of Leonard F and Mary Ann Bowes.
He is buried in the Churchyard of St. Simon and St Jude Church at Ulshaw Bridge, East Witton.
Additional information
He had been discharged from the Army but the CWGC accepted on 15 October 2014 that he was a casualty of WW1. Someone had done a lot of work to achieve this. Thank you.
The inscription on his head stone is:
In loving memory of
GDM John E. Bowes, Coldstream Guards,
second son of L and M Bowes of Ullshaw.
Served with honour and was disabled in the Great War
and died in Becketts Park Hospital, Leeds
October 18th 1920 aged 22 years
 
CARRUTHERS, John Joseph
Private, 1st/6th Battalion, The Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment), 139 Brigade, 46th Division. Army no. 94581. He had also served as Private, Army no. 33444 with the Kings Own Scottish Borderers.
He died from his wounds on Monday 15 April 1918 in a Casualty Clearing Station. He was 19.
He was the son of Joseph and Ellen Carruthers, Hovingham.
He is buried in Chocques Military Cemetery, near Bethune on the Somme.  His headstone is inscribed In God's Merciful Keeping.
 
GREENHALGH, Bertrand William
Private, 5th Battalion, Canadian Infantry. Army no. 13459. Whilst he served in the Canadian Forces, he was an American citizen.
He was killed on active service on Monday 24 May 1915. He was 30.
He was the son of William and Nancy Greenhalgh and the husband of Edith K Greenhalgh, Keota, Iowa, USA.
He is remembered on the Vimy Memorial near Arras.
 
HUTCHINSON, Joseph
Private, Coldstream Guards. Army no. 27583.
He died of pneumonia in the Military Hospital, Caterham on Saturday 13 July 1918. He was 28.
He was the son of Alfred and Margaret Hutchinson, East Witton.
He is buried in Churchyard St John the Evangelist’s Church, East Witton and inscribed on his headstone is “His Memory We'll Ever Keep Thy Will Be Done”.
 
LEAKE, John Robert
Leading Stoker, HMS/M D-5, Royal Navy. RN no. 304084.
He died at sea on active service on Tuesday 3 November 1914. He was 30.
He was the son of Jane E Leake, East Witton and the late John Leake.
He is remembered on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial.
Additional information
D-5 was the first submarine of her class to be lost. She was mined off Yarmouth on 3 November 1914. She was lying off Gorleston when news of the German bombardment of Yarmouth was received and three submarines were ordered to intercept the German ships off Terschelling.  Shortly after getting underway, D-5 was mined aft and sank quickly, leaving just her CO and four others to be rescued by the trawler Faithful.
 
MAUGHAN, John                  Mentioned in Despatches
Captain, 4th Battalion, Alexandra, Princess of Wales’s Own, (Yorkshire Regiment), 150 Brigade, 50th Division.
He was killed in action on Thursday 17 February 1916 in the fighting around The Buffs, near Ypres. He was 26.
He was the son of John and Annie Maughan, Jervaulx.
He is buried in Poperinghe New Military Cemetery, near Ypres, Belgium.
 
METCALFE, Godfrey
Private, 4th Battalion, Alexandra, Princess of Wales’s Own, (Yorkshire Regiment), 150 Brigade, 50th Division. Army no. 201890.
He was killed in action on Monday 27 May 1918 in the Battle of the Aisne. He was 28.
He was the son of William and Jane Metcalfe, East Witton.
He is remembered on the Soissons Memorial.
 
TOWLER, John George
Private, 7th Divisional Supply Column, Army Service Corps.  Army no. SS/416.
He died on Sunday 11 August 1918. He was 35.
He was the son of Christopher and Amelia Towler and the husband of Jane E Towler.
He is buried in the churchyard of St John the Evangelist’s Church, East Witton.
Additional information
His military career finished on 7 December 1917 when he was awarded the Silver War Badge and discharged from the Army as being no longer medically fit to serve as a Soldier. His death is registered just 8 months later in the civil records in York Registration District.
 
WAITE, Mansell
Private, 5th (Service) Battalion, The Duke of Edinburgh’s (Wiltshire Regiment), 40 Brigade, 13th Division. Army no. 9868.
He died of natural causes serving in Gallipoli on Sunday 16 January 1916. He was 19.
He was the son of William and Ada H Waite, Lime Tree House, East Witton.
He is buried in Pieta Military Cemetery, Malta and inscribed on his headstone is They shall be Mine, saith The Lord of Hosts, in that day when I make up my Jewels.
 
WRIGHT, Edwin
Private, 10th (Service) Battalion, King's Own (Yorkshire Light Infantry), 64 Brigade, 21st Division. Army no. 34798. He also served as Private, Army no. 5384 with Alexandra, Princess of Wales’s Own, (Yorkshire Regiment).
He was killed in action on Monday 25 September 1916 in the Battle of Morval. He was 29.
He was the son of Henry and Margaret A Wright.
He is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial.
 
Those who Fell in WW1 who are not on the War Memorial
 
MALLABY, Fred
Lance Corporal, Alexandra, Princess of Wales’s Own, (Yorkshire Regiment), Army no. 4379831.
He died on Friday 28 January 1921. He was 26.
He was the son of John and Sarah J Mallaby, Mellwood, Jervaulx.
He is buried in the Churchyard of St. Paul’s Church, Healey and inscribed on his headstone is In the Mid'st of Life We Are in Death.
 
MAYNARD, Henry Robert
Lance Corporal, 10th Company, The Imperial Camel Corps. Army no. 50601. He had also served as Private, Army no 1799 with the East Riding of Yorkshire Yeomanry.
He was killed in action on Wednesday 27 March 1918. He was 31.
He was the son of Henry R and Anne M Maynard, Horncastle, Lincolnshire.
He is buried in Damascus Commonwealth War Cemetery.
 
 
On a gravestone in the Churchyard
 
NICHOLSON, Herbert George
Private, 8th Battalion, The East Lancashire Regiment attached to The Royal Engineers. Army no. 28991
He died on active service on Tuesday 5 June 1917. He was 34
He was the son of George and Hannah Nicholson and the husband of Catherine Annie Nicholson, 1016 Cleveland Avenue, Niagara Falls, New York, USA.
He is buried in La Clytte Military Cemetery, near Ypres and his gravestone is inscribed He laid down his life for Us.
Additional information
There are two queries in this record. Soldiers who died in the Great War states that he died from his wounds, the headstone says that he was killed in action.
The family headstone states he died in France but he is buried in Belgium suggesting that he possibly died in Belgium.
 
Those who Fell in WW2
 
MAUGHAN, Thomas Boulby
Major, Irish Guards. Army no. 154951.
On Saturday 29 July 1944 he was killed in a motoring accident. He was 45.
He was the son of John and Frances Maughan, Jervaulx.
He is buried in St. John the Evangelist Churchyard, East Witton. His Funeral Service took place with full military honours
 
St. John the Evangelist Church, East Witton has a window dedicated to Garrett John Raymond
 
To the dear Memory of John Raymond Garrett
Lieutenant 60th Kings Royal Rifles
Born at East Witton vicarage Tuesday 13 April
1853, killed at the Battle of Ingogo, South Africa
Tuesday 8th February 1881, this window is placed
They shall be mine saith the Lord of Hosts in that
day when I make up my Jewels  Mal 3 17
 
Ingogo was site of a battle on 8 February 1881, 20 miles north of Newcastle and during the First Anglo-Boer War. This was a battle in which British casualties numbered 76 while Boer losses amounted to 8. The name is derived from the Ngogo River.
The Boer failure to assault and capture the guns during the rainstorm, allowing the British column to escape, probably represents their only major error during the war.
 
Arthur Poulter VC
The tablet in the ground by the War Memorial marks the bravery of a special man and I have taken this text from The Victoria Cross Website
 
On 9th/10th April 1918 the 1st/4th Battalion, West Riding Regiment (Duke of Wellington's) moved into the area at Erquinghem to cover a crossing of the River Lys to stem the German advance. On 10th the Duke of Wellington's C Company assembled near the top of the Rue Delpierre while two officers and three NCOs went forward to reconnoitre. The ground was swept by machine-gun fire and one of the officers assumed the original objective could not be reached and decided that the line of a railway should be held instead.
He returned to his company in order to inform them of the change of plan. However, men were already being hit while waiting for their officers and losses mounted, the company stretcher-bearers becoming very hard pressed. Soon there were just not enough stretcher-bearers and helpers to cope with the high number of casualties and it was during this time that Arthur Poulter earned his Victoria Cross. He tended the wounded for hour after hour and also somehow got them to safety as well. In Arthur Poulter's own words:
Gradually all the stretcher-bearers in my company were killed or wounded and I was left to 'carry on'. How I got through the first day alone I do not know. It is a 'wonder' to me. The enemy artillery and rifle fire was directed at us from a range that could not have been much more than 50 to 100 yards, and each time I went out a hail of shrapnel was falling around, the artillery and machine-gun barrage was terrific. The first day I went out ten times to bring back some of our wounded and had to carry them a distance of 400 to 500 yards across a bridge over a river to where the RAMC men were. I carried them on my back, and two of them were hit again before I could get them to the rear.
 
The award of the Victoria Cross
London Gazette, 28 June 1918.
Lys Erquinghem, France, 10 April 1918, Private Arthur Poulter, 4th Bn, Duke of Wellington's (West Riding) Regiment.
For most conspicuous bravery when acting as a stretcher-bearer (Erquinghem, Lys, France). On ten occasions Pte. Poulter carried badly wounded men on his back to a safer locality, through a particularly heavy artillery and machine-gun barrage. Two of these were hit a second time whilst on his back. Again, after a withdrawal over the river had been ordered, Pte. Poulter returned in full view of the enemy who were advancing, and carried back another man who had been left behind wounded.
He bandaged up over forty men under fire, and his conduct throughout the whole day was a magnificent example to all ranks. This very gallant soldier was subsequently seriously wounded when attempting another rescue in the face of the enemy.
 
Arthur Poulter was invested with his Victoria Cross by King George V at Buckingham Palace on 13 December 1918.
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