Private. 11th Battalion, Prince of Wales’ Own West Yorkshire Regiment. Service number 43728.
Early life:
Frank was born early in 1895, registered in Keighley in the first quarter of the year. Parents Joseph and Elisabeth Hannah Midgley.
In 1901 he was six years old and living at Slack Farm, Oakworth with his parents, four brothers and two sisters. His father Joseph was a farmer. His elder brother was Joseph Thomas Robinson Midgley.
By 1911 he was sixteen and still living at Slack Farm in Oakworth but the family had grown. He now had six brothers and five sisters.
At this time he was working for Messrs. J. Waterhouse and Sons, shuttle peg makers in Oakworth as an iron worker involved in making the shuttles.
War service:
He enlisted with the Duke of Wellington’s West Riding Regiment (service number 11/18106) at Keighley in January, 1916 and trained as an infantryman for several months, before embarking for France in July of that year. He was killed in action on October 7 when his battalion attacked German trenches at Le Sars during the Battle of the Somme period. They suffered heavy losses in this attack, one of which was Frank. His body was never found and he has no known grave. His named is on the Thiepval memorial to the missing, Somme, France. His photograph appeared in the Keighley News on November 4, 1916.
WO-95/2184/403. War Diary. 11th Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment. October 1917:
1st:
Moved to Trenches near MARTINPUICH.
2nd:
In Trenches.
3rd:
In Trenches.
4th:
Battalion moved up towards LE SARS. (Headquarters on 26th Avenue.)
5th & 6th:
In Trenches and about 26th Avenue.
7th: 2.10 pm. Battalion attacked trenches to the left of LE SARS. Objectives gained & held, losses heavy. 8 Officers & 217 O.R.
Keighley News November 1916:
OAKWORTH
Private Frank Midgley, son of Mr and Mrs Joseph Midgley, of Slack Lane Farm, Oakworth, was killed in action on October 7th. This is the second son Mr Midgley has lost during the war. He went out to the front early in July, and prior to his enlistment in January, he had been employed for about five years by Messrs. J. Waterhouse and Sons, shuttle peg makers, Oakworth.
Post war:
Frank was posthumously awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal for his war service which would have been sent in 1920/21 to his father Joseph who was his next of kin, along with a memorial plaque and memorial scroll. Joseph also received Frank’s outstanding pay of £2 18s 3d in February 1917, and a war gratuity of £3 in October 1919.
His mother received a Dependant’s Pension of 7 shillings per week, beginning on 19th June 1917.
Frank’s memorial scroll is held in the archives at Keighley Library along with that of his half brother Joseph Thomas Midgley Robinson.
He is remembered on the Oakworth War Memorial in Holden Park, Oakworth.
What’s confusing is that their names say Frank Midgley and Joseph Robinson, but now we’ve been able to explain their family relationship and the reason these two scrolls are together in the archives.
Joseph’s parents were still living at Slack Farm in the 1921 census, along with eight of their children.
His father Joseph died on 15th May 1927.
His mother Elizabeth Hannah was living at 17, Church Street in Oakworth in the 1939 Register, with four of her daughters. She died on 5th April 1943.
Information sources:
England & Wales, Free B.M.D. Birth Index, 1837-1915.
1901 England Census.
1911 England Census.
Keighley News archives at Keighley Library.
Soldiers Died in the Great War, 1914-1919.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
British Army WWI Medal Rolls Index Cards, 1914-1920.
UK, WWI Service Medal and Award Rolls, 1914-1920.
Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects, 1901-1929.
WO-95/2184/403. War Diary 11th Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment.
World War I Pension Ledgers and Index Cards, 1914-1923
Oakworth war memorial.
National Library of Scotland Mapping service.
Western Front Association.
