Henry HOBSON

22 June 1917

BRADLEY – ANOTHER VILLAGER MAKES THE SACRIFICE

News was received on Thursday, the 14th inst., that Pte. William Linford, of the York and Lancaster Regt., had died from gunshot wounds received in action. On Monday the 11th his wife got a telegram stating that he was in the General Hospital at Boulogne dangerously ill suffering from wounds. He joined up on November 13th last and went to France on February 9th. Before enlisting he worked as farmer’s man for Mr. Thompson. He was 31 years of age and leaves a widow and one child.

On Sunday morning a memorial service was held in the Wesleyan Chapel, conducted by Mr. Herbert Thornton, Supt. Sunday School, who, at the outset of his address, tendered to the widow, the fatherless child and relatives the sincere sympathy of the congregation. The deceased was of a quiet and unassuming disposition and loved to come to God’s house and join in worship, and it was fitting that they should pay tribute to his memory. It was only the 22nd of last month that he wrote to Mr. Green saying that he was in the best of health and spirits and that they were having some lively times, but he was among a number of jolly young Christian fellows who had chapels to go to in which the services were helpful, but still they were not like the dear little country place at home. The hand that was so recently made the medium for conveying these kindly feelings is now still in death upon a foreign shore. Their hearts ached to think that our brave young fellows should be prematurely cut off, leaving desolate homes and hearts torn by the sad and sudden bereavement. Their sympathies also went out to Mrs. Hobson who had unofficial news to the loss of her son. Their friend, Joe Harry Mawson, had been missing since May 3rd, but they all cherished the fond hope that he is a prisoner in Germany and that before long they would hear news of his well being. They all begun to realise how terrible is the conflict to which they were engaged. Well might they cry out ‘Why this awful carnage, why this pouring out of the life blood of the young manhood of the nation?’ Was something dearer than life at stake? They thanked God for the noble men who in days gone by had laid down their lives to procure us the liberties, which today was their common heritage. Today, we as a nation, are called upon to take a similar stand and shed our hearts’ blood, believing that the unbroken power of Germany involved a constant menace to every form of peaceful life. May some consolation come to those whose loved ones laid down their lives in the belief that the cause for which they fought was righteous, that they yielded up their breath so the world might move towards the dawn of a brighter and holier day, and surely they would say in the words of Burton:–

For us they died, nor did they die in vain,
As to Thy heaven they found the nearer way;
For through the smoke and through the fiery rain
We see the dawning of a better day.

At the close of the service Mr. Chapman, the organist, played ‘O rest in the Lord’.