Centenary of the First World War 1914-18

On the 4th August 1914 Great Britain declared war on Germany in support of its treaty obligations to Belgium and France.

 The war memorial outside Hessle Church records the names of men who did not return to Hessle after that conflict. It seems appropriate to place that list of names on this website at this time.

 Patrick Howlett has, with his son, compiled a Hessle Roll of Honour with full details of these men.

Hessle War Memorial 1914-18

Acey          Walter

Almond      Walter

Bayston      Alfred

Bayston      Fred

Beadle        Arthur

Beadle        Henry S

Bell            James

Bennett      Charles E

Bielby         Norman

Bilsdon       Arthur

Blagg         Arthur

Blagg         Stanley

Blakeston    George L

Bontoft       Herbert

Bontoft       James

Brett          Albert

Burton        Charles

Chadwick    Albert L

Clark          Alfred H

Clark          John

Cleaver       James

Collishaw    E Edward

Cotton        Frank E

Crombie      John

Curtis         Colin T

Curtis         Robert

Dearing      Richard

Dickenson   Charles

Earle          E Clifford

Edwards      John

Ellis           William

England       Edward

Forbes         Joel S

Fussey        Edgar

Gale           Edgar O

Gibson         John W

Goddar        Horace

Graves        C E Teddie

Gray            George W

Harness       Sidney

Harness       William

Harrison       Ernest

Hart            Richard E

Hillerns        Oswald

Hinson         Leslie

Jackson        Frederick

Jessup          George H

Jewitt           Sydney

Johnson         Albert

Johnson         J W George

Jones            Reginald P

Lowthorpe      H Arthur

Manley          F Cyril C

Manley          William E

Mathison        Alan

McKinley        William H

Monkman       Ernest W

Nicholson       Randolph

Nicholson       T Hamilton

Oughtred        Harold

Palmer           John W

Parker           Walter

Platt             Harold

Platt             Percy

Plummer        John R

Poulter          Frank

Raettig          Ralph A

Rawson          Fred

Robinson        Alfred

Robinson        Charles O

Robinson        Ernest V

Robinson        G Herbert

Sharp             Albert

Sharp             Harry L

Shepherdson   James W

Sibborn           David

Sibborn           Tom

Simpkins         J Reginald

Slater             James

Speck              John W

Spittlehouse     Thomas

Stevenson        Harry

Sutton             Arthur J

Teale               Arthur

Tennison          Cyril F

Tether             George W

Tulley              William

Tune                C Walter

Tune                H Douglas

Tyson              Joseph T

Usher              Charles W D

Walker             Alfred

Wardle             Alfred

Wardle            John

Ware               Horace

Waugh             Robert J

Wharton           William J

Whittingham      A Stanley

Whydle             Bert

Wilson             William

Wood               Robert

Wood               Samuel

Wray                Harold A

Wray                Thomas

They shall grow not old

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.

From Laurence Binyon's poem For the Fallen, written in September 1914

James Bontoft

The first Hessle man to fall in World War 1 was James Bontoft of Grovehill.

     Private Bontoft was a career soldier who had served for eight years in India before the war. James served in the 1st East Yorkshire Battalion and went to Belgium as part of the British Expeditionary Force. He died on September 29th 1914, probably at the Battle of the Aisne.

    James Bontoft was born around 1885/6; he was unmarried and lived with his brothers. He was the son of William and Sarah Bontoft and had several brothers and sisters:

Sarah Jane  b 1870

George  b 1881

William  b 1885

Arzullah  b 1882

Ethel b 1883

Martin b 1880.

 Lt Colonel J R Pease

Joseph Robinson Pease was the third of the family to carry this name. He was born in January 1873 and married Nony Isabel Colvile (who was eight years younger) at Wolverhampton in 1899. It seems that they had three children, Nony in 1900, Humphrey in 1902 and Heyrick in 1906. Joseph joined the Royal Garrison Artillery, and like his grandfather, attained the rank of Hon Lieutenant-Colonel. He but was died on 17 May 1915. His body was returned to Hessle for burial in the cemetery.

The 1911 census records Joseph and Nony at a rental flat in London but Pease gives his postal address as Hesslewood House. A 1912 Directory records Hesslewood House as still being in the possession of J R Pease but by 1918 it is unoccupied though in the possession of Mrs Pease, who was also one of the major landowners in Hessle.

Lt Col G H Shaw,  VD

Another man who is not recorded on the Hessle war memorial is G H Shaw. At the time of his death his address was North Ferriby but he had lived in Hessle for several years prior to the war.

George H Shaw was born in Hull in 1865. He was the son of John and Eliza Shaw and was educated at Hull College, and in France, Denmark and Germany. John Shaw was a European Merchant. He was married to Clara Ann Ingleby and they had four boys named Arthur, Edward, Philip and Frank. In 1901 they are recorded at Riverslea on Southfield, Hessle but later moved to Briar Garth, North Ferriby. In business Shaw joined the corn merchants Shaw, Son and Company in 1882 and became a partner in 1887. George is listed as a Corn Merchant in the 1901 census.

In January 1883 he enlisted in the 1st Volunteer Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment as a private but by December he had taken a commission as a Lieutenant. In 1892 he was promoted to Captain, in 1898 to the rank of Honorary Major and in October 1904 to Honorary Lieutenant Colonel. By 1914 he was the Battalion Commander of the 4th Battalion.

 George Shaw was killed in action at St Julien in 1915. On  April 22nd the war took on a frightening new aspect for it was then, at about 5 p m that the Germans launched the first gas attack on the western front as part of the second battle of Ypres. The battalion was located near Ypres where they were engaged in battle at St Julien. On the banks of the Yser canal the 4th Battalion suffered its first casualties, on the 24th April when four men were wounded. In the evening two platoons of D Company, EYR, led by Lt Col G H Shaw attacked the enemy. During the fighting Shaw was shot through the head by a sniper. He was one of seven Lieutenant-Colonels of the East Yorkshire Regiment to be killed in the war. Shaw does not seem to have been decorated for his wartime service, nor even mentioned in despatches.

Shaw is recorded on the Menin Gate memorial at Ypres in Belgium. Although he is recorded as George Hubert Shaw by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission he was listed as George Herbert on the original enlistment records of the 4th East Yorkshire Volunteers Battalion in 1883. His name is not recorded on the North Ferriby War memorial nor on Hessle War Memorial.