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SKELTON - IN - CLEVELAND
IN HISTORY
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"WE WILL REMEMBER THEM"
14537 Lance Corporal WILFRED ARTHUR FORSTER.
14th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry.
Died of wounds, aged 24, on the 23rd November 1915.
Born at Skelton in Cleveland, N Yorks. Enlisted at Bishop Auckland.
Son of Ralph and Sarah Forster of 3 Park St, Skelton, N Yorks.
Husband of Edith Adelaide Forster of 49 Harker St, Skelton, N Yorks.
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Boulogne Eastern Cemetery.
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FAMILY:-
At the census of 1901, Wilfred, aged 9, was living at 3 Park St and had been born in Skelton.
His father, Ralph Wright, aged 42, worked in the Ironstone mine as a Deputy. He had been born at Pinchinthorpe, N Yorks.
His mother Sarah Ellen, aged 44 was born at Bilsdale, N Yorks. She had had 3 children and all were living.
His older brother, Joseph, aged 18, was an apprentice watchmaker at the time and was killed in the war on the 8th September 1916, while serving in the Cheshire Regiment.
His other brother, Alfred, aged 13 was a stable boy.
1911 Wilfred, now 19, is working as a Railways Clerk for the North Eastern Railway Co, He is the only child still living at home.
By the time of the War he had married Edith Adelaide, who was living at 49 Harker St, Skelton Green at the time of his death.
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WAR SITUATION:-
The 14th (Service) Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry was formed at Newcastle in September 1914.
It was attached to 64th Brigade, 21st Division.
William's Medal Card shows that he was a Volunteer for service in the War.
He arrived in France on the 11 September 1915 and lost his life just 10 weeks later.
At the time of his death the Division fought in the Battle of Loos, north of Lens in France.
Wilfred was badly wounded at some unknown point during this action and was taken back to a Base Hospital in Boulogne, where he died.
MEMORIAL:-
Boulogne, was one of the three base ports most extensively used by the Commonwealth armies on the Western Front throughout the First World War.
Boulogne and Wimereux formed one of the chief hospital areas.
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Until June 1918, the dead from the hospitals at Boulogne itself were buried in the Cimetiere de L'Est, one of the town cemeteries, the
Commonwealth graves forming a long, narrow strip along the right hand edge of the cemetery.
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