We have looked into the Parkwood area of Keighley in greater detail because one particular street there suffered a greater than average loss of life in the First World War. This became known to us from an article in the Keighley News dated 2nd December 1916, page 4:
TWO ‘PALS’ KILLED
During the past week news has been received that two more Parkwood boys have made the supreme sacrifice. Their names are Lance-Corporal Lowndes and Lance-Corporal Tatton, both attached to the West Riding Regiment, and their parents respectively at 9 and 13, Belle Vue Terrace, Keighley. It is a pathetic coincidence that they met their death instantaneously by the explosion of a trench mortar on November 20. Both young men had been comrades since boyhood, and joined the Territorials, going out to the front together in April, 1915. In the bitter defence of Ypres, fighting before overwhelming odds, they were to be found together, and during the summer they were both on leave at home, and only a few weeks ago they were promoted to non-commissioned rank. Both young fellows were of a pleasant disposition and highly esteemed. In letter to the parents of Lowndes, Lieutenant Godfrey Buxton said that he was an efficient and courageous soldier, and writing of Tatton, the officer said: He showed very great promise, and was already for any job that required doing. A brother of Lance-Corporal Lowndes Corporal Sam Lowndes, attached to the Bradford ‘Pals’ was killed in action on July 1 the first day of the ‘big push.’ Both the deceased men were members of St Paul’s church, Parkwood, and this makes a total of four young men belonging to the church who have been killed since the beginning of July. Out of one street in Parkwood as many as nine men have been killed during the war.
That street was Feather Street, which is bounded by Brow Street and Belle Vue Terrace. This street has just 21 houses (plus six tagged on) but eleven men who lived there at some point in their lives are known to have died in the war.
All of these streets still exist today and it is possible to see for yourself what a close knit community it was. It would not be hard to imagine how shocking the impact of so many war dead in one small street would have been.
The civil records show some confusion over naming and Brow/Feather/Belle Vue seem to have been interchangeable at times, depending on the person writing it.
Our research found that those men were:
Clayton, John Edgar – 4th August 1915 – 2, Brow Street.
Lowndes, Charles – 20th November 1916 – 9, Belle Vue Terrace.
Lowndes, Sam – 1st July 1916 – 9, Belle Vue Terrace.
Mason, William – 21st August 1915 – 8, Brow Street.
Mitchell, George – 15th October 1915 – 5, Belle Vue Terrace.
Pickard, Fred – 20th October 1915 – 2, Brow Street.
Rawling, Ellis – 18th April 1915 – 39 Parkwood St – which is on the end of the Brow Street Terrace.
Rooke, Alfred William – 19th October 1915 – 88, Parkwood Street. At 4, Brow St in 1911 census.
Saxton, Frederick – 14th December 1918 – 4, Brow Street.
Tatton, Joseph William – 20th November 1916 – 13, Belle Vue Terrace.
Wilkinson, John Willitt – 9th May 1915 – 6, Brow Street.
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St Paul’s Church, Parkwood
This church was demolished around 1972 and the St Paul’s Great War memorial tablet is on the wall in St Andrew’s Church (the Shared Church):
Died For their Country In The Great War 1914 – 1918
Baron, Albert (18 Apr 1917)
Duckett, Willie (27 Oct 1918)
Hardacre, Christopher (18 Oct 1915 – 1, Park Lane)
Hinchcliffe, Arthur (30 Sep 1917 – 87, Dalton Lane)
Hotston, Wilfred (27 Aug 1918)
Lowndes, Charles (20 Nov 1916)
Lowndes, Sam (1 Jul 1916)
Pickard, Albert (12 Oct 1916)
Pickard, Willie (4 Sep 1917)
Rawling, Ellis (18 Apr 1915 – 39 Parkwood St)
Saxton, Frederick (14 Dec 1918)
Tatton, Harry (6 May 1917 – 78 Parkwood Street)
Tatton, Willie (20 Nov 1916)
Wilkinson, John Willitt (9th May 1915 – 6, Brow Street))
Their Name Liveth For Evermore.
Served but did not die
Burke, Leonard MM. – Survived the war.
Schofield, Charley 10th Bn. West Yorkshire Regiment. Survived the war and was discharged on September 30, 1919. Parents lived at 3, Belle Vue Terrace.
Schofield, Tom ? Three candidates with that name but all died long after the war.
Kane, George Handley – Royal Field Artillery, West Riding Brigade. Enlisted on May 31, 1915, survived the war and was discharged in May 1919. Died age 63 in 1962.
Information showing where other men of Parkwood lived before or during the war:
1914 electoral:
Belle Vue Terrace
1 – Robinson, Henry
3 – Schofield, George
5 – Pickles, John Henry
7 – Wheeler, George
9 – Lowndes, Charles
11 – Hodgson, William
13 – Tatton, John William
17 – Moorhouse, Walter
19 – Simpson, John
Brow Street
6 – Clayton, Emmott
8 – Mason, Graham
10 – Calver, George Thomas
12 – Leeming, William – head of household in 1911 aged 53 – two sons Arthur (22) and Harry (20) in 1911
14 – Golden, Michael
18 – Leadbeater, John William
1915 electoral:
Belle Vue Terrace
1 – Robinson, Henry
3 – Schofield, George
7 – Wheeler, George
9 – Lowndes, Charles
11 – Hodgson, William
13 – Tatton, John William
15 – Yaxley, Fred
17 – Moorhouse, Walter
19 – Simpson, John
21 – Rowlett, Charles
Brow Street
4 – Saxton, Frederick
6 – Clayton, Emmott
8 – Mason, Graham
10 – Calver, George Thomas
12 – Miles, Fred
14 – Golden, Michael
16 – Kay, William
18 – Leadbeater, John William
Other men from the Parkwood area who died in the Great War:
Bailey, James – 74, Parkwood Street – 13/6/17 – KRRC
Bottomley, William (Billy Bott) – 45, Parkwood Street (Also 27, Harcourt Street) – 17/9/16 – 1/6 WRR
Butterworth, Edgar Arthur – 34, Pitt Street – 11/11/14 – 2 WRR
Critcheson, Thomas – 30, Quarry Street – 29/4/15 – 1/6 WRR
Gott, Ernest – 7, Thorn Street – 27/11/17 – 2/6 WRR
Hardacre Christopher – 18 Oct 1915 – 1, Park Lane.
Hooker, Harry Wright MM – 130, Parkwood Street – 9/8/16 – Queen’s Royal West Surrey Regiment.
Jackson, J Sydney – 104 Parkwood Street – 7/12/18 – Royal Navy
Kelly, George – 2 Thames Street – Wounded 1916 Missing 1917 – 1/6 WRR
Lake, Herbert – 16, Carlisle Street – 18/9/16 – 1/6 WRR
Mason, Christopher – 154 Parkwood Street – 21/11/14 – KOSB
Morgan, W. M. – 1 Nov 1918 – 13, Brick Street, Park Lane, Keighley.
Pickard, Albert – 146, Parkwood Street – 12/10/16 – 8 WRR
Pickles, Fred – 6, Thames Street – 29/4/15 – 1/6 WRR
Smith, Joseph – 5 Barrett Street, Parkwood – 21/8/15 – 8 WRR
Smith, William Henry Driver – 8, Haynes Street – 31/12/15 – RFA
Wilkinson, John W – 12 Aug 1915 – 17, Green Street.
Walton, John Thomas – Barrett Street, Parkwood – 3/5/17 – 2/6 WRR
Wigglesworth, Fred – 11 Thames Street – 11/10/18 – 1/7th WRR
Wigglesworth, William – 11 Thames Street – discharged – 8 WRR
Woodcock, John Benjamin – 27 Dec 1915 – 6, Tyne Street.
Wright, Harry – 30 Parkwood Street – Survived the war – 2/6th WRR
Information sources:
Each individual has a list of information sources for their biography, at the bottom of their own page.
National Library of Scotland – Ordnance Survey street maps.
We used Census records for 1901, 1911 and 1921 plus Electoral rolls to establish who was living at each address. Not everyone was living there at the same time.
Other sources include The Town Clerk’s 1914 enlistment records and Keighley’s Gallant Sons for recruitment information specific to Keighley.
