Private. Tank Corps. Service number 307210.
Previously Private. 1st Battalion, King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. Service number 21560.
Note: Joseph’s surname in civil records is Philbin, in Army records it is Philburn.
Early life:
Joseph was born at 6, Mill Lane in Oakworth in 1892 and the birth was registered in the first quarter of the year at Keighley. His parents were woolcomber Michael Philbin originally from Ireland and Bridget Philbin neé Lynch. Joseph had four brothers and three sisters. By 1901 they had moved to no. 11 Mill Lane. Their father Michael died in 1910 aged 70 and by the 1911 census Joseph, his mother and married sister Mary and her husband had moved to 38, Eastwood Square in Keighley where Joseph was a 19 year old apprenticed iron turner.
War service:
Joseph enlisted at Halifax around March 1915. After training he disembarked in France on May 26, 1915 with the 1st battalion KOYLI.
He was admitted to hospital in France (report from May 1917). He was transferred to the Tank Corps in January 1918 and killed in action on August 8, 1918 whilst serving with the 8th Battalion, Tank Corps. This was during the Battle of Amiens which established a turning point in the offensive against German forces as the start of the ‘Hundred Days Offensive.’
Keighley News May 26, 1917 page 3:
Private Joseph Philburn, of the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, has been admitted to hospital abroad after being eighteen months at the front.
Keighley News August 31, 1918 page 3:
Gunner Joseph Philburn, whose mother resides at 143, Wellington Street, Keighley, was killed in action in France on August 8, 1918. After enlisting three and a half years ago, he served in the Royal Engineers until January last, when he was transferred to the tanks. It will be seen from letters from a chaplain and an Australian that he was killed in one of the recent battles while acting as a member of a tank crew. The Rev. T. G. Chamberlain, chaplain, has written as follows to his mother: “It is my very sad duty to have to inform you of the death of your son, Gunner J. Philburn, in action during the advance on August 8. His tank received several direct hits from shells while attacking a German battery, and he was instantly killed by one of them.
He has since been buried near the tank, and we are having a cross erected over his grave. The battalion has suffered severely, but has done extremely well, and he hold in the highest honour and respect all those who have fallen in the great cause. Our hearts go out to you in what must be a terrible loss. My God comfort and strengthen you, as He alone can, to bear this cross as nobly as he bore himself in action and soon send us peace.”
Private Bruce G. Argoub, an Australian soldier, has written a very interesting letter to Mrs. Philburn, in which he states that all the members of the crew were taken prisoners, but as Gunner Philburn was wounded he was allowed to escape, and that while doing so he was hit by a shell and killed. He further states that he assisted in making his grave, and that he would forward his Prayer Book and other articles at the first opportunity.
Post war:
Joseph’s mother Bridget was living at 40, Wellington Street in Keighley after the war. She received a payment of £6 4s. 11d. on March 20, 1919 and a war gratuity of £16 0s. 0d. On December 5, 1919.
The war gratuity amount equates to his length of Army service and gives an estimated date of enlistment for March 1915.
Remembrance:
Joseph was apparently buried near his tank but his grave appears to have been lost. He is remembered on panel 11 of the Vis-en-Artois Memorial. Locally he is remembered (as Philbin) along with his brother Michael on the St. Anne’s Catholic Church war memorial on North Street in Keighley.
His brother, Sergeant Michael Philbin died on the 3rd July 1918 at India.
Information sources:
England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915.
1901 England Census.
England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1837-1915.
1911 England Census.
British Army WWI Medal Rolls Index Cards, 1914-1920.
WWI Service Medal and Award Rolls, 1914-1920.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Soldiers Died in the Great War, 1914-1919.
Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects, 1901-1929.
Keighley News archives at Keighley Library.
