First World War stories from the Wakefield District

Joshua was born in Castleford and worked at Allerton Bywater Colliery. He volunteered for the army in September 1914. He probably did his military training in Perthshire. Although we do not know exactly what job he did in the army, we do know that he served in France, Greece, Egypt and Palestine and that he became a sergeant.

At the time of his death Joshua was in France. He was injured in the Battle of Selle, one of the last battles of the war and died in a military hospital at Abbeyville in October 1918.

Joshua’s wife Mabel and his daughter Lucy found life very difficult after the war because of the small size of the widow’s pension Mabel was given. Mabel found work in the school meals service. Some time after Lucy’s marriage, Lucy and her husband moved in with Mabel to help her. Mabel died in 1978. She never remarried.