Joseph Albert PLUMBLEY

03 December 1915

BARNOLDSWICK – PERSONAL PARS

Private J. A. Plumbley, D Company, 2nd Battalion Duke of Wellington’s, has been spending a week’s furlough at home after ten months’ active service with the B.E. F. in France and Flanders. He took part in the assault on Hill 60, where he suffered slightly from gas poisoning. Before enlisting he was connected with the Barnoldswick Congregational Church, and was present at the evening service on Sunday, when the hymn ‘God be with you till we meet again,’ was impressively sung at the close.

Lance-Corporal W. C. Whipp (Duke of Wellington’s), who was wounded in France three months’ ago by a bullet in the shoulder, is now in West London Hospital for a second operation. When the bone was set after six weeks’ waiting for the wound to heal, Lance-Corporal Whipp found that he had no use in his wrist, probably owing to the disconnection of one of the nerves.

Pte. J. Greenhalgh (Duke of Wellington’s), who was wounded in France during the summer, has been invalided home and given light employment in one of the Government Telephone Exchanges, there being but little hope of his perfect recovery.

Sapper F. G. Wilcock and Pte. Frank Bailey, of the same regiment, are in hospital in France suffering from the effects of fatigue and sickness.

10 November 1916

BARNOLDSWICK CASUALTIES

Official news of the death of Pte. J. A. Plumbley, Duke of Wellington’s Regiment, has been received by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Hy. Plumbley, 9, Powell Street, Barnoldswick. He had previously been posted missing since October 12th, but from information received from one of his comrades he was probably killed on the 11th. Pte. Plumbley was 22 years of age and the eldest of the family. He enlisted in November 1914, and had spent nearly two years at the Front, with the exception of one short leave. Before joining the Army he was employed as a loomer at Messrs. W. Bailey’s Ltd., Wellhouse Mill.

24 November 1916

PLUMBLEY – October 12, 1916, killed in action in France, Pte. J. A. Plumbley, Duke of Wellington’s Regiment, eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. H. Plumbley, of 9, Powell Street, Barnoldswick, aged 22 years.

24 November 1916

MORE BARLICKIANS PAY THE PRICE – HOW PRIVATE PLUMBLEY DIED: Officer’s Kindly Tribute

Mr. and Mrs. H. Plumbley, 9, PowelI Street, Barnoldswick, have now received further particulars relating to the fate of their eldest son, Private J.A. Plumbley, Duke of Wellington’s, whose death at the age of 22 was chronicled a fortnight ago.

Pte. Plumbley, who had been at the Front nearly two years, was reported missing on October 12th. Three weeks later the anxious parents received the following letter from a Lincoln address:–

“We went to see our son, who is wounded, in Stoke-on-Trent War Hospital. On the 14th October, the morning he received his wound, he found this packet containing Bible, letters, photos, etc. My son wished us to try and get them sent to some relative or friend. We sincerely hope the young man to whom they belonged is safe and well.”

In response to an announcement in a daily paper asking for information as to his son, Mr. Plumbley received the following on the 7th November:–

“I beg to inform you that Pte. J.A. Plumbley, of the Duke of Wellington’s, was killed by the same shell which wounded me on the 11th Oct. I did not know the young fellow, but he dropped at my feet in the German front line trench. He had his hip and left leg blown off. He went over the top the same time as us, and died about ten minutes after being wounded. The reason I got to know him was that an officer dropped close to him, and when the stretcher bearers came to take the latter away he saw your son, and said “That is Plumbley, dead.” So I thought of the name ever since. I got wounded in the right thumb, and was sorry I could not do anything for him. It was at a village called -----.”

Yours truly, PRIVATE J. ANDERTON (Lancs. Fus.) (now in Dewsbury Military Hospital)

In a further letter Private Anderton writes:– “The ‘Dukes’ occupied the trenches behind us on the 10th October and we all made the charge together on the 11th at half-past two. We were in the front lines, and your son’s regiment was in another trench 100 yards behind. We had to take the German first line, and your son’s regiment had to take the second. Your son had a bag full of bombs on his shoulder, and his pockets full, and he asked me to pull them out of his pockets before he died, but the Germans counter-attacked and we got driven back to our own line, and your son was left in the German line. His pocket was blown away, and it must also have blown away the books you asked about. Your son only spoke to me once during the charge. He said, “Here are some Germans coming” and as we saw them we both got over the trench to meet them when a shell hit him full in the hip. A German officer fired at me and hit my thumb. I got back into the trench again, and your son asked me to lift him down, which I did. I bandaged him up as well as I could, using all the stuff I had, but it was such a funny place. I could not carry him to a place of safety as there was hand-to-hand fighting going on all around us, and I had all my work on to get back to our own lines. He had his senses, and died with a smile on his face.”

Amongst the papers received from Lincoln were two copies of a letter of commendation Private Plumbley received for the part he played in rescuing the wounded C.O. of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment on July 1st. The original letter, it appears, was sent home to his parents, but they never received it, and Mr. Plumbley therefore wrote to the Warwickshire’s Officer stating the fact, and received the following reply a few days ago:–

“Dear Sir, – I am in receipt of your letter, and am pleased to send you a copy of my letter expressing a slight appreciation of what your son did for me. The C.O. is still on his back in a London Hospital; I saw him about September 20th. I am sorry to hear your son is among the missing in this terrible war. It is a slight consolation to know he died serving his King and Country nobly. Please accept my sincere sympathy.”

Yours truly, J. L. MELLOR (MAJOR), Royal Warwick Regt.

The enclosure reads:– “Private Plumbley (12352), Duke of Wellington’s, on the night of July 1st, you volunteered to assist to bring in the Commanding Officer. I wish to make you some acknowledgment of the good work you did under trying circumstances. The C.O. is progressing in a London Hospital.”

J. L. MELLOR (Capt. and Adjt.), 12/7/16. Royal Warwick Regt.

27 April 1917

BARNOLDSWICK – MEMORIAL SERVICE

A very impressive memorial service for the late Pte. John Edward Pickup, a stretcher-bearer of the Duke of Wellington’s, whose death was recorded in our columns a fortnight ago, was held at the Wesleyan Church on Sunday morning. There was a large congregation, including some 50 members of the Barnoldswick Ambulance and Nursing Divisions, with which the deceased was formerly connected. These had marched from the Drill Hall in command of Supt. J.W. Thompson. Before commencing his sermon, the Rev. W. Bradfield, M.A., B.D., said:– “In the midst of our rejoicing this morning, we remember one of our young men who went out from amongst us and has now been called hence. – Pte. John Edward Pickup, a stretcher bearer in the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment, who has behaved himself with conspicuous gallantry and has been awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal. He was afterwards striving to do his duty bravely and devotedly to help his comrades when in the midst of it his course was ended on March 20th. He was only 24 years of age, and in thus trying to render assistance to those who had been injured in this great struggle he himself was called away. Words fail me when I speak of things like this. We leave him in the hands of God, but to his father and mother and all the rest of the family in their great sorrow we tender our most heartfelt sympathy, and whilst I say this I also want to add that there is another of our young men, Pte. J.A. Plumbley, Duke of Wellington’s, aged 22, who is reported missing. You know the terribly deep agony and suspense that that word conveys. To his parents also our hearts go out in deepest sympathy.”

The hymn ‘Now the labourer’s task is o’er’ was then sung, and at the close the organist (Mr. C.L. Waller) played the ‘Dead March’.