This is one of a series of posts about local men named on the Keighley Union Workhouse roll of honour.
Joseph Crabtree was recorded living at Keighley Union Workhouse in the 1901 and 1911 census.
Private. 2nd/5th Battalion, West Riding Regiment, Service number 14156.
Early life:
Joseph was born on December 9, 1886 and registered in Keighley. Benjamin and Sarah Crabtree were his parents. He was baptised at St. Andrew’s Parish Church in Keighley on February 10, 1887. His father was working as a labourer and they lived at 84, Park Lane, Keighley.
They were still there in the 1891 census when Joseph was four years of age with two sisters.
By 1901 he was in the Keighley Union Workhouse, described as a pauper aged 14 years and working as an ordinary agricultural labourer, possibly at the Workhouse farm. By 1911 he was 24 years of age but now described as an inmate. meaning he wasn’t completely destitute. He was a farm labourer, employed on the Workhouse farm at Keighley.
He was later working on a farm near Doncaster before the outbreak of war in 1914.
War service:
He enlisted in Keighley with the 10th Battalion, West Riding Regiment and was sent to France on August 29, 1915 with the 2nd/5th Battalion and served with them until his death.
WO-95/3086/2. Battalion war diary:
2nd/5th West Riding Regiment, battalion war diary resumé from November 20, 1917:
They were in the trenches at Bertincourt and were to mount a large attack on the German lines at Place Mort Homme, Havrincourt Wood. The attack was to include tanks and one document suggests that Joseph was attached to the Tank Corps. (perhaps just for this attack.)
At 9.15 am they moved forward and came under fire from snipers and machine guns firing from a strong point, killing several men and wounding 26. These were attacked and taken by D company and many prisoners were taken. Moving forward, they found a ditched tank with the crew defending it and helped to knock out the German garrison who were attacking it, inflicting heavy casualties on them.
After a reorganisation, an attack was made on Kangaroo Alley, capturing it and bombing a German dug-out. Several attacks were made in quick succession, leading to the Bapaume-Cambrai Road until the final objective for the day was captured. Two more machine guns were captured and the strong point was consolidated and a defensive flank made down the Hindenburg Support Line.
A total of 353 prisoners were taken, 15 machine guns and 1 trench mortar were taken. The total number of casualties killed were 3 officers killed, 10 other ranks killed, 55 other ranks wounded and 4 other ranks missing.
Joseph Crabtree was one of those wounded and he died of his wounds later that day. He was 31 and is buried in Metz-en-Couture Communal Cemetery British Extension.
His family had the following inscription added to his headstone: ‘Thy Will Be Done’
Keighley News:
Keighley News March 23, 1918, page 3:
Private Joseph Crabtree, of the West Riding Regiment, whose parents reside at 23, Clarendon Street, is officially reported to have died from wounds at a field dressing station in France. He had been in France nearly three years, and been in hospital previously, suffering from septic poisoning. Before enlistment in October, 1914, he was engaged in farm work at Doncaster, having previously worked on the Keighley Union farm.
Remembrance:
Joseph is named in the Borough of Keighley roll of honour book at Keighley Library. He is also named on the Keighley Union Workhouse roll of honour, in the care of Cliffe Castle Museum.
Post war:
He was awarded the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal for his war service. His back pay and war gratuity went to his sole legatee Mrs Charlotte Wilkinson.
Information sources:
England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915.
West Yorkshire, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1910.
1891 England Census.
1901 England Census.
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.
Cliff Castle Museum.
