Pocklington honours those who never returned from war

IN the summer of 1915, Private James Harrison, a young driver with the 2nd Battalion of the Highland Light Infantry, wrote a letter home to his local newspaper in Pocklington from his camp in Rouen, Normandy.

His letter, published in the Pocklington Weekly News on Saturday August 14, took a dig at the young men of the town who had still not volunteered to serve king and country.

"Scores of Pocklington lads of my acquaintance, I find, have never given a thought to enlisting," he wrote. "I wonder if they can guess what the men who are camping outside town are saying about them. I have a good idea what they say!

"It is nice, I daresay, to turn out in full force when the troops are leaving these camps for the front, and send them off with a ringing cheer. It is far more patriotic, however, to be leaving for the front with them and to receive the ringing cheers of the womenfolk; to have your sweethearts and sisters, wives, and mothers shaking your hand and wishing you God speed."

His letter finished with a rousing call to arms. "Please wake them up to the fact that England is involved in a war!"

A photograph shows a proud young man in full uniform standing, rifle in hand, beside his seated mother.

Private Harrison, from Chapmangate in Pocklington, certainly did his bit for king and country in that long-ago war. The son of a farm labourer, Thomas Harrison – who also fought in the war as a private– James had enlisted with the Wolds Wagoners before transferring to the Highland Light Infantry in August 1914.

During the course of the war he was wounded three times, and also gassed. At one point he was recommended for the Military Medal, although it is not known why. And then, on March 24, 1918, in the final few months of the war, he was killed.

We know heartbreakingly little about how. He is buried in the cemetery at Arras. But an account of his life and death compiled by the Pocklington Local History Group reveals how little is known about his final moments.

"James has no known grave but is remembered in the Roll of Honour book in Edinburgh Castle, and also in the story of The Wolds Wagoners, in which he is described as being 62 inches high, 105lb, with grey eyes and dark brown hair," it records.

Hundreds of young men from Pocklington went off to war 100 years ago: 53 of them never returned. A similar number of young men from Pocklington School also lost their lives.

Several years ago, former Pocklington town councillor Martin Cooper began researching the lives of those from the town who died.

His research was taken up by the Pocklington and District Local History Group. And next Friday, just a couple of weeks before Remembrance Day, their research will be brought together in a powerful exhibition at Pocklington Arts Centre that will serve as a moving tribute to those who died.

The 'Fallen Heroes' exhibition, mounted with the help of a £4,900 Heritage Lottery grant, will include individual biographies of every one of the 53 men from Pocklington who died on active service in the First World War, plus information about the Pocklington School old boys who were also killed.

More than 50 photographs of the First World War from the history group's archive will be on show, alongside film footage of Pocklington men who survived the war parading through the town in 1930, shown to a soundtrack of a veteran singing marching songs.

The exhibition will also look at life in Pocklington during the war.

"More than 300 men from Pocklington fought in the First World War, along with some 300 old boys from the school," says Phil Gilbank, a Pocklington Local History Group committee member.

"Pocklington was also the base for thousands of others to start out on their war experience. There was an army training camp at Ousethorpe on the edge of the town, and men from across the north of England were sent to Pocklington after enlisting, or did wartime training at the camp."

No better tribute to the young men who gave their lives so long ago could be imagined.

• Fallen Heroes runs at the Pocklington Arts Centre from Friday October 31 (opening reception at 7pm) to Friday November 7.  Opening times vary – check before you visit.

The lost heroes of Pocklington

We don't, sadly, have room here to record the lives of all 53 Pocklington men who died in the First World War. Here, with thanks to the research done by the Pocklington Local History Group, are just a few:

Captain George Jefferson Scott

George Scott was a pillar of Pocklington society before the war broke out. Born into a well-known Market Weighton family he was, before he enlisted, the bank manager of Barclays in Pocklington, as well as a director of the Market Weighton Gas Light and Coke Company.

Married with two children, he was the commanding officer of the Pocklington Troop of 5 Battalion, The Yorkshire Regiment Territorials that volunteered for overseas service as soon as war was declared.

He was killed on Christmas Day, 1915, and is buried in Poperinghe New Military Cemetery.

A memorial service was held for him in Pocklington Parish Church a couple of days later, at which the vicar of Market Weighton, AAR Gill, read out a letter from Capt Scott's commanding officer. "Poor George was killed this morning, practically instantly, by a sniper," the letter said. "The only words he spoke were to the effect that he was shot through the back. The doctor tells me he was shot through the heart. The whole battalion, officers and men, grieve for his widow."

Perhaps the best tribute to him, however, comes from a non-commissioned officer who visited his family before his death. "His men all love him, and have perfect confidence in him," he told them. "He always thinks of their comfort before his own, I believe we would follow him wherever he might lead."

Sergeant Arthur Rowntree

Arthur, from New Street, Pocklington, enlisted with the West Yorkshire Regiment in Beverley and died of wounds on October 23, 1918, aged 19 – fewer than three weeks before the end of the war.

In the Pocklington Weekly News he was classed as being a sergeant, but the Commonwealth War Graves Commission has his rank as corporal.

Arthur’s brother, Bombardier Alfred Rowntree of the Royal Field Artillery, was awarded the Military Medal for gallantry in action in 1917 and survived the conflict. Another brother, Driver Thomas Rowntree, also served with the Royal Garrison Artillery.

Private Francis Charles Buttle

Before the war, Frank, as he liked to be known,was employed as a joiner by Thomas Lamb, of Railway Street and Church Lane, Pocklington.

On November 5, 1915, at the age of 19 years and four months, he went to Helmsley to enlist in the 21st Battalion Kings Own Royal Rifles 9th Yeomanry .

After training as a rifleman he became a bugler. He left Sheerness for France on 26th September 1916.

Frank was wounded and admitted to the 48th clearing station, France, on April 5, 1917, where he died from stomach wounds the same evening. Frank’s brother George (also in the Kings Own Royal Rifles) managed to see Frank before his death.

Frank is buried at Bray Cemetery on the Somme.

Lt Col Frederick William Robson DSO

Col Robson's father Thomas was a leading figure in Pocklington: a solicitor, a commissioner for oaths and steward of the Manor of Pocklington, among other things. Yet the fate that befell his family proved that war did not respect rank.

Mr Robson lost three of his five sons within two weeks at Easter 1918. Lieutenant Colonel Frederick Robson DSO, of the Durham Light Infantry, was cut down by machine gun fire in March 1918, while leading his men. He was 30 years old.

The body of Col Robson, who had been twice mentioned in despatches for distinguished and gallant service, as well as being awarded the DSO, was never recovered from the Somme battlefield.

His brother, Captain Edward Robson MC, was killed 14 days later, in April. Another brother, Richard, had died of valvular disease in London in March the same year.