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SKELTON - IN - CLEVELAND
IN HISTORY
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"WE WILL REMEMBER THEM"
5353/201878 Private WILLIAM ELSWORTH.
4th Bn, Yorkshire Regiment.
Died of wounds, aged 38, on the 1st November 1917.
Born at Ryhill, Yorks. Enlisted at Northallerton, N Yorks.
Son of George and the late Emily Elsworth,
of 32 Green Rd, Skelton-in-Cleveland, N Yorks.
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Dozinghem Military Cemetery, Westvleteren, Belgium.
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FAMILY:-
1901. William, aged 19, was living at 32 Green Rd and working in the Ironstone mines as a horse driver.
His father, George, age 43, who came from Spofforth, Yorks also worked in the Ironstone mines.
His mother, Emily, age 38, came from Mildren, Lancs. She had had 10 children by 1911 and 9 were still living.
Two children Martha 13 and George 11 were born in Lancashire and three younger ones Joe 9, Arthur 5, Bertie 3, all born in Skelton.
1911 census. The family are still at 32 Green Rd, Skelton.
William still working in the Ironstone mines along with his brothers, George and Joe.
His father, George, has an "affliction to the eyes", but is still working underground in the Mines.
By the time the Commonwealth War Graves recorded William's death, his mother had died.
Joe Elsworth enlisted at Bradford, on the 8 January 1915, aged 22yrs 9mths, in the Army Service Corps, Horse Transport
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WAR SITUATION:-
The 4th Battalion, Yorkshire Regiment were part of the 150th Brigade, 50th (Northumbrian) Division.
William's Medal Card shows that he was not awarded the 1914/15 Star. The date in 1916 or late when he joined the Battalion and any previous action that he may have been involved in is not known.
At the time of William's death they were fighting in the latter stages of the Third Battle of Ypres or Passchendaele.
Full details based on the Battalion War Diary can be read starting here.
MEMORIAL:-
Dozinghem Military Cemetery is just North West of Poperinghe, to the West of Ypres. Over 3,000 Commonwealth lads are buried there.
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