Herbert Beaumont and Fred Wibberley
Most of the personal information I have comes from the weekly Holmfirth Express held on microfilm at Huddersfield Local History Reference Library. If a man is killed it is often first briefly mentioned and then a reporter will usually pay a visit to the family and write a little obituary that appears one or two weeks later, they like to include a photograph when they can, but that can often be another week later.
I have fairly good information for 1914/15/16/17. 1918 and 1919 are still very much just notes, some better than others. And I have photographs up to the end of June 1916. Plus some more that are on pages taken from the microfilm that just happened to be alongside the information I was after. I have noticed that occasionally there are conflicting pieces of information, perhaps time will clarify these.
3/9/16 - James Edward Mellor, a Private of 8 Flush House, Holmbridge, He enlisted at Holmfirth and after around three months’ training he was at home on draft leave in August before sailing for the Front. After allowing time for travelling the Holmfirth Express estimated that he could not have been in the trenches for more than a day or two before he was killed. He had left home with Herbert Beaumont and Fred Wibberley, so they must have all arrived around the same time. 3/9/16 was the second worst day of the war for deaths from Huddersfield and district. 3/5/17 was the worst. In both cases the German army was left in control of the battlefield which means a lot of dead and wounded men were originally classed as missing.
He left his home in perfect health,
He looked so young and brave,
We little thought how soon he wouldBe laid in a hero’s grave.
He gives us the dear old smile,
From the picture on the wall,
And we feel as though our hearts would break,
When found memories we recall.
Some day I hope to meet him,
Some day, I know not when,
I’ll clasp his hand in the better land,
And never part again.
No one knows the parting,
Or what the parting cost,
But God, in His great mercy,
Has gained what we have lost.”
The Family of Herbert Beaumont, Killed October 1916.
Green Gate, Austonley, Holmbridge.
Abbeville Communal Cemetery, (including Extension,) Somme, France.
Herbert Beaumont, Grave 2 on Row H of Plot 1. - Died of Wounds 10/10/1916 - Gunshot Wounds.
Bethune Town Cemetery, Pas De Calais, France.
Fred Wibberley, Grave 7 on Row C of Plot 6. - Died of Wounds 13/3/1917 - Shellfire.
A few years ago I was given a bayonet that once belonged to a Holmfith man, it has a proper handle and looks like a short sword a bit under two foot long. Apparently a lot of these old bayonets were kept as souvenirs, perhaps the sword you mention is one of these?
Tony.