James Willie WHITTAKER

08 March 1918

SKIPTON SOLDIER FATALLY WOUNDED

Private Richard Dove Whitaker, West Riding Regiment, one of the three soldier sons of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Whitaker, 28 Devonshire Street, Skipton, has died from wounds in the head caused by a shell bursting in a dugout. In a letter to his parents, Private James Whitaker says that his brother and his mate were cooking at the time the shell burst. The other man was killed instantly and his brother died directly he arrived at the dressing station. Private Whitaker, who was 32 years of age, had been at the Front 21 months. He was formerly a warp dresser at Messrs. Firth and Moorhouse’s mill.

17 May 1918

Private James W. Whittaker, Skipton

Mr. and Mrs. Edward Whittaker, 2 Devonshire Street, Skipton, have also suffered a second war bereavement within the short space of two months. Their eldest son, Private Richard Dove Whittaker, died from wounds on February 28th, and word has now been received that their second son, Private James W. Whittaker, West Riding Regiment, was killed in action on the night of May 3rd. The latter was 31 years of age, and prior to enlisting in October1914 was a loomer and twister for Messrs. Dixon, Firth Shed. He attended the Skipton Parish Church, and was a member of the Church Institute and of the Conservative Club. He had been in France three years.

Pte. A. Foster, 10 Dorset Street, Skipton, who formerly worked with deceased and had been his comrade at the Front, has written a letter of sympathy to the bereaved parents, in which he mentions that Private Whittaker was killed at the time the Germans were shelling the British very heavily, and that he was really liked by all the boys of the Company, to whom his death was a great blow. Mr. and Mrs. Whittaker’s youngest son, Private Edgar Whittaker, is also serving with the R.F.A

02 May 1919

WHITTAKER – In ever loving memory of James Willie Whittaker, of the 1/6th Duke of Wellington’s Regiment, who was killed in action on the 3rd of May, 1918.

God will clasp the broken chain
Closer when we meet again.

From his Father, Mother, Brother, Sister-in-law and Ronnie, 28 Devonshire Street, Skipton.

23 February 1923

ODDFELLOWS’ WAR MEMORIAL

UNVEILING CEREMONY AT A SKIPTON LODGE

OVER 200 WHO SERVED

There was a large attendance of local members of the Independent Order of Oddfellows at the Friendly Societies’ Hall, Skipton, on Saturday afternoon, on the occasion of the unveiling of a war memorial to the members of the Loyal Traveller’s Friend Lodge, I.O.O.F, M.U., who fell in the war.

The Memorial takes the form of a beautifully designed scroll within an oak frame with a glass front, the work of Mr. H. Spencer, junr., and it bears the inscription:–

LOYAL/TRAVELLER’S FRIEND LODGE,/SKIPTON DISTRICT ./I.O.O.F. ROLL OF HONOUR M.U./OF/THOSE MEMBERS OF THIS LODGE WHO FOUGHT FOR THEIR KING AND COUNTRY TO UPHOLD THE SACRED CAUSES OF BROTHERHOOD AND HUMANITY IN THE GREAT WAR, 1914–1918.

Below the inscription are the names of 173 members who served in the war, and of the 40 members who were killed. The names of the fallen occupy a central position on the scroll, and above them are the following words:–

IN MEMORIAM
OF THOSE WHO MADE THE
SUPREME SACRIFICE.
THEIR HEARTS ARE LIFTED UP
THEIR HEARTS
THAT HAVE FOREKNOWN
THE UTTER PRICE,
THEIR HEARTS BURN
UPWARD AS A FLAME
OF SPLENDOUR AND OF
SACRIFICE

The names of the fallen are as follows:– H. Armstrong, J.J. Brown, J. Barrett, Robt. Brown, W.W. Bell, A. Clayton, W.H. Coles, T.C. Chew, Tom Downes, T.M. Drummond, Jos. Emmott, Thos. Edmondson, J. Easterby, F. Gallagher, J.W. Garwood, G.E. Godwin, S.J. Hargreaves, M. Hargreaves, A. Hebden, J. Hebden, A. Hawkswell, T.E. Inman, M. Lund, R.C. [R.G.] Metcalfe, Hbt. Maudsley, Hy. Maudsley, A.J. Pimnock [Pinnock], H.Y. [Harry] Riley, T.W. Storey, J.H. Stewart, R. Spencer, J.W. Shuttleworth, Wm. Tempest, Hbt. Thompson, Fred Thornton, J.W. Varley, John Ward, J.A. Whittaker, J.W. Whittaker, and R.D. Whittaker.

The Unveiling Ceremony

The unveiling ceremony was presided over by Bro. Thos. Bellamy, and was performed by Bro. Amos Culpan, Prov. C.S., and a simple service included the singing of the hymns, ‘O God our help’ and Kipling’s Recessional, ‘God of our fathers,’ and the reading of a portion of Scripture, and the offering of a prayer by Bro. James Greenwood, of Bradford, and formerly of Skipton.

Bro. Bellamy observed that those members of the Lodge whom they were met to honour went into battle, suffered untold privations, and, in many cases, made the supreme sacrifice. They gave their lives in defence of their homes and their country. Further than that, they gave their lives for justice and freedom, and in order that we might live. It was the duty of Oddfellows, equally as much as other sections of the community, to do everything within their power to make the country better for that sacrifice. “In the time of our prosperity,” concluded Bro. Bellamy, “never let us forget those who served us in the time of our adversity.”

A Lesson of the War

Prior to unveiling the memorial, Bro. Culpan described the ceremony he had been asked to perform as one not unattended by sorrow. It was an occasion upon which one felt a desire to make their Order better for the sacrifice of its members, and to extend the true spirit of brotherhood. In nearly 4,000 of their Lodges they would find a roll of honour. Over 22,000 of their members made the supreme sacrifice, and thousands of others were ruined and shattered in health and without prospects for the future. Each and all of them ought to perform some daily service that would make the sacrifice of those men worth while. One result of the terrible ordeal of 1914 to 1918 was the creation of a better feeling between men, and a desire to break down the class barriers that formerly existed. That was one of the great lessons of the war.