Bernard LOCKER

01 December 1916

SILSDEN CASUALTIES

Pte. Bernard Locker, of the Yorkshire Regiment, son of Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Locker, of 27, Elliott Street, Silsden, is officially reported as missing since November 7th. Pte. Locker enlisted about two years ago in the 20th West Yorkshire Regiment, and was for a considerable time a member of the band attached to that regiment. He was 19 years of age. He had been formerly connected with the Silsden Primitive Methodist Church and Sunday School for over ten years, and was also a member of the Silsden Brass Band. Prior to enlisting Pte. Locker was employed at Messrs. John Dixon and Sons, bobbin manufacturers, Steeton. He had only been out in France six weeks.

05 January 1917

INTERCESSION AND MEMORIAL SERVICE AT SILSDEN – Impressive Sermon by Rev. W. Dickinson

An intercession and memorial service for the fallen heroes in the war was held at the Silsden Primitive Methodist Church on Sunday evening last. There was a large congregation, and the officiating minister was Rev. Wm. Dickinson (pastor). During the service the hymns 'O God our help in ages past,’ ‘Lord God of hosts, Whose Almighty hand,’ ‘God the all terrible! King Who ordainest,’ and ‘When wilt Thou save the people’ were sung. Miss Clara Fortune also ably sang the solo ‘O rest in the Lord,’ and at the close of the service the organist (Mr. Bernard Longbottom) played the ‘Dead march’ in ‘Saul,’ and the National Anthem was sung.

WAR A HARMFUL THING

Preaching from the text Psalm 46, 9th verse, ‘He maketh wars to cease unto the ends of the earth,’ Mr. Dickinson said it seemed almost superfluous to say in this sad day in which we lived that war was a serious and harmful thing. It was, however, a great outstanding fact. When they looked at the expense even in times of peace, when nations made preparations for war, it was even then a great expense, but in days of actual warfare as to-day, when the nation was spending at least £5,000,000 a day, then it was that they were reminded that war was a serious thing from a financial point of view. They tried to have dreams or visions as to what would have been done with that money for philanthropic purposes and for the social amelioration of the people of this country, but the country had put those dreams or visions in the back ground. Then we had the cruelty of it, and the passions that it excited. It marched to hunger and thirst and wounds and death. Then we had the bereavements. Children were made orphans, women were made widows, and parents mourned over children and many were left childless. Then we also had the deplorable feelings produced by war, feeling of revenge, feelings that produced quarrelsomeness, a desire for power and an unholy lust of ambition. That was seen by the works of the great Napoleon, and also by the Kaiser and the Prussian War Lords. The question that now forced itself to the front was ‘Is all war morally wrong?’ We had a very high ideal, and we believed that war was all wrong. They read in the Old Book that David was not allowed to build the temple of the Lord because his hands had been stained by blood, and he was spoken of as a man of war. But, in these days we had to look at actual facts. What was the actual state today? When one side would prepare for war and was determined to declare war, what then could we do? That great poet in Russia called Tolstoy preached the doctrine of being passive, but when we came to think of it, could we be passive? If our homes were to be destroyed and our wives and children to be taken from us, could we be passive? Did it not arouse within us that spirit of manhood that we must assert ourselves and that we must fight? If we were not prepared to do that, all he could think was that we were cowards. They ought to bury their heads and be ashamed of themselves. In days of peace with one breath they would denounce all war, and yet in the very next breath they would ask the question why the Congo atrocities were not stopped even if force were necessary. To-day they looked upon a devastated Serbia, Montenegro, Belgium, and alas Roumania, and they came to the conclusion that there were worse things than war – Armenia and the Congo, and the slavery of the South Americans; and what would have been the slavery of Europe had it not been for the call to arms in a cause that was just and righteous?

A JUST AND RIGHTEOUS CAUSE

If it were not for that conviction that the cause for which they were at war was just and righteous, many of them would have failed to preach, to pray, or to look to God. But, it was that which gave them strength that they looked to him Who was the present help and refuge in their trouble. In their fight against war whom should they attack? Often in the past the attack was made upon the soldier. They could not do that to-day as far as this country war concerned. They had a great civilian army, and they were fighting for freedom, for righteousness, and for justice. They never wanted to be soldiers, they never wanted to fight, but the call had come and they could do no other. Who made war, and why should there be war? Not the soldier. In the days that were gone, it was more the civilian than the soldier, the civilian because he was represented by his Parliament and that Parliament as the representative of the civilian often made war, because the lust for power and the lust for gold had got hold of them. Then in the commercial world, amongst what was known as the ruling classes, there was generally speaking a disposition to make war because there was the old saying that trade followed the flag. The soldier fought because he was ordered to do. It was neither Roberts, Kitchener, nor Buller who made the Boer War. If anybody made it, it was Kruger, Milner, and Chamberlain, and it was made because they had greed for power, and an unholy ambition and wish for gold. If they went back through the pages of history, they would find that that was the source of war as far as this country was concerned. He had come to the conclusion that the man who shouted for war had an axe to grind. The man who shouted for war ought to be made to go and face the music and not to send others. What did soldiery stand for? Generally speaking it stood for the aggressive, the quarrelsome, the brute force. They could not say that of the civilian army that had been raised by this country. They were not aggressive, they were not quarrelsome, and neither could they say that they were asserting brute force. He was sorry to have to say it of the Central Powers where conscription had been reigning for so many years. It was the brute force and the aggressive power that they would have to abolish. But when they had said that, they were bound to come to the conclusion that

SOLDIERY HAS ITS GOOD POINTS

The soldier side by side with the doctor stood to give his life for his country and that was a great deal. He would advise anyone to pause before he sneered at a soldier. He stood between them and the enemy, and if it had not been for the brave men who had stood thus, where would they have been to-day? They had no words too high in their commendation and admiration and love for the civilians of this Empire, who had stood between them and the enemy in this time of crisis. The question came to each one of them what was their position and what were they doing in the national crisis that was before them, and still after all they came to the conclusion that the soldier's life as they saw it to-day was a regrettable necessity, that all those brave men should have to shoulder the musket and defend our shores and fight for the freedom, righteousness, and justice of a cause that none of them disputed. They regretted in this the 20th century that such a thing should have happened. It ought not to have come to pass, and it never would have come to pass if the great Central Powers of Europe had taken heed of the sayings of Christ, and had seen His crucified hands instead of the mailed fist, and if they had listened to His beatitudes instead of the philosophy of the German teachers. How were they to lessen those evils? They must attack the root, that lust for power, that quarrelsome spirit, and that unholy ambition that had dominated the great Central Powers. How were they to attack the root? By educating the people for peace at the proper time, and that perhaps was not just yet. It was an easy matter to give descriptions of the horrors of war, to speak of its abominations, and even to denounce statesmen and people who sanctioned war, but how few people there were who searched for methods by means of which war could be put down and destroyed. When the history of the war and the part which the British Empire had taken in it came to be written – he was not a prophet or the son of a prophet – he ventured to say that the writer would pay a fine testimony to the ex-Foreign Minister of this country (Sir Edward Grey) who night and day at the beginning or before the declaration of war strove with all the brain power he had, and with every ounce of strength, he could put in, to avert this great catastrophe. If to-day he was in the back ground, he would looked upon as one of the finest statesmen this country ever had. On what lines were they to educate people for peace? There was a form of Government not only to arrest this demon war, but to bind him in chains. What was it? A cosmopolitan administration or a great Federal Government of the world. They might be dreamers, but certainly there would come a day either in London, Paris, or New York, when there would be a great Federal Government, and that Government would help them to the day when wars would cease.

THE CHURCH'S ROLL OF HONOUR

Proceeding, Mr. Dickinson said he was sure he was voicing the feelings of all present when he said they sympathised very deeply with the families of Pte. Percy Kellett and Lance-Corpl. T.C. Green, both of whom were in hospital suffering from wounds. They prayed for their speedy recovery, and also that their parents and relatives might he comforted. Then they had Ptes. Bernard Locker and Gannett Longbottom, who were reported as missing, and it was hoped that before long good news would be heard of them. They had to add two other names – Pte. Dan Faulkner and Gunner W.H. Sutcliffe, both of whom had been killed in action – to their list of fallen who had been intimately associated with their church and Sunday-school. Mr. Dickinson then read a list of Silsden soldiers who had died serving their King and Country. They were as follows:– Pte. Harold Snoddin [Snowden], Pte. B. Hodgson, Pte. I. Wade, Pte. R. Spence, Pte. E. Hustwick, Gunner E. Lund, Pte. W. Gill, Pte. J. Faulkner, Pte. N. Holmes, Pte. R. Read, Pte. J. Gill, Pte. S. Wrigglesworth, Sergt. J. Baldwin, Sergt. R. Hill, Pte. Wm. Richmond, Pte. W.H. Teale, Corpl. F. Taylor, Pte. H. Harper, Pte. D. Faulkner, and Gunner W.H.Sutcliffe.

Mr. Dickinson also read the church's roll of honour, which comprised 110 names.

30 March 1917

SILSDEN SOLDIER MISSING

Pte. Bernard Locker, of the East Yorkshire Regiment, son of Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Locker, of 27, Elliott Street, Silsden, has been missing since Nov. 7th of last year. Pte. Locker, who is 19 years of age, joined the 2nd Bradford Pals about two years ago, and was in the band connected with that regiment. In October last he was sent to France, and on arriving there he was transferred into the East Yorkshire Regiment. He had only been at the front about five weeks when official information was received to the effect that he was missing after doing trench duty. His parents and officials of the Silsden Primitive Methodist Church, of which Pte. Locker was a regular attender prior to joining the colours, have made numerous efforts to gain information concerning his whereabouts or what happened to him, but they have up to the present been of no avail. Since the official information was received stating that he was missing there has been no communication to hand of any kind except replies to letters which have been sent to various centres from where investigation of the whereabouts of prisoners is carried out. Mr. and Mrs. Locker are anxious to learn their son’s fate, and would be glad of any information which might help to throw light on their investigations.

27 July 1917

SILSDEN MEMORIAL SERVICE

A service in memory of Signaller Wilfred Clarkson, who lost his life by the sinking of the ‘Vanguard;’ Pte. B. Locker, missing, now reported killed; and Pte. Chas. Henry Gill, killed in action, was held at the Silsden Primitive Methodist Church on Sunday morning last. There was a large congregation, and the service was conducted by Rev. J.T. Woodfield, of Farnhill. As the congregation assembled the organist played ‘O rest in the Lord,’ and at the close of the service the ‘Dead march’ in ‘Saul.’ Mr Woodfield took as his text “He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal,” St. John, 12th chapter, 25th verse Reference was also made to persons connected with that church who had died since the last memorial service, namely, Samuel Fort, Edwin Kirk, John Tillotson, George Horn, Clement Crane, and Ann Mawson.

18 January 1918

LOCKER – Reported missing, Nov. 17th, 1916, now believed killed on that date, Pte. Bernard Locker, of the East Yorkshire Regiment, son of Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Locker, of 27 Elliot Street, Silsden, aged 19.

18 January 1918

SILSDEN

MISSING, NOW PRESUMED KILLED

Pte. Bernard Locker, of the East Yorkshire Regiment, son of Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Locker, of 27, Elliot Street, Silsden, has been reported missing since November 17th, 1916. Pte. Locker, who was 19 years of age, joined the Bradford ‘Pals’ in June, 1915, and was in the band connected with that regiment. In October, 1916, he was sent to France, and on arriving there was transferred to the East Yorkshire Regiment. He had only been at the front about eight days when official news was received to the effect that he was missing, after doing trench duty. The parents and officials of the Silsden Primitive Methodist Church, of which Pte. Locker was a regular attender prior to joining the colours, have made numerous efforts to gain information concerning his whereabouts or what happened to him. Since receiving the official information stating that he was missing there had been no communication to hand of any kind except replies to letters, until Monday last, when the following letter was received from the British Red Cross and Order of St. John:– “We much regret to say that notwithstanding constant and careful inquiries we have not been able to hear anything of your son, and have had to come to the conclusion that he must have lost his life at the same time as when he was missing. We have questioned all the men of his unit, whom we have been able to see, both in English hospitals and at the bases abroad, and none of them have been able to throw any light on his casualty. We have, therefore, been able to collect some details about the action, and we enclose a copy of this, fearing that in spite of all our efforts we shall not be able to help you further in the matter. We do indeed watch all the list of prisoners as they come in from Germany, but we cannot hope to find there any names of men missing so long ago. We wish to offer our sincere sympathy to the family and friends.’’ A copy containing details of the action reads as follows:– “Our reports show that in the last week of November, 1916, the East Yorkshires were in action between ----- and -----. On November 5th part of the battalion went out as a blind for the bigger attack elsewhere, or as another account puts it, to relieve our regiment, where the French were attacking. Though our men reached their objective they suffered heavy losses, and could not hold the ground.” A full description is also given by an officer of one part of the action, where about 60 men went over, and after driving the Germans away with Lewis Gun fire were properly established in the captured trench. He states:– “At dusk several hours afterwards, I sent over a patrol, and he reported them all right and holding the trench. Later I sent a N.C.O. who returned wounded at 9 p.m., and reported that the enemy had regained the trench. Not one of our 60 returned. No burying parties were sent out as the firing was too heavy, and the battalion was relieved the next day.”

Pte. Locker was formerly a member of the Silsden Band, and employed at the Steeton Bobbin Mill.