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SKELTON - IN - CLEVELAND
IN HISTORY
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"WE WILL REMEMBER THEM"
24468 Private GEORGE WILLIAM BATTERBEE.
10th/11th Battalion, Highland Light Infantry.
Died of wounds, age 23, on the 12th April 1917.
Born at North Skelton, N Yorks. Enlisted at Richmond, N Yorks.
Son of Thomas and Mary Ann Batterbee,
of 37, Wharton St, North Skelton, N Yorks.
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Duisans British Cemetery, Etrun, about 9 kilometres West of Arras.
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FAMILY:-
1901. George, age 6, was living at 37 Wharton St and had been born in Skelton.
His father, Thomas, age 65, worked in the Ironstone Mines as an Onsetter. He had been born in Cambridgeshire.
His mother, Mary A, age 48, also was born in Cambridgeshire.
He had 2 brothers, John, who at 13 was already labouring down the Ironstone Mine and Thomas age 2.
And a sister Martha age 9.
WAR SITUATION:-
George's Medal Card shows that he was awarded the 1914/15 Star and was a Volunteer for service in the War, going out to France on the 16th December 1915.
George's Battalion were part of the 51st Division.
In 1916 it fought in the attacks on High Wood and the Battle of the Ancre, which were phases in the Battle of the Somme.
In 1917 the Division was ordered to Arras, where it took part in the First Battle of the Scarpe, 9th to 14th April 1917.
The British attacked East of Arras from April 9th to May 16th against the formidable Hindenberg Line, to which the Germans had made a strategic withdrawal earlier in the year.
This operation was part of a larger plan by the French General Nivelle who attacked further South on the Aisne at the same time, with tragic results for the French Infantry, who afterwards staged a partial mutiny.
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A great many men were killed and wounded in the British advance, more on average per day than on the Somme.
General Haig wrote later that Arras was purely a diversion, as his main objective was to advance at Ypres in the offensive that he would launch in July.
George was must have been badly wounded in the first days of this offensive and died at a Casualty Station.
MEMORIAL:-
He is buried at Etrun, 9 kilometres to the West of Arras in the Duisans British Cemetery.
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