Lewis SEDGWICK

17 November 1916

UNKNOWN FATE OF THREE SKIPTONIANS – RIFLEMAN LEWIS SEDGWICK

Rifleman Lewis Sedgwick, son of Mr. and Mrs John Charles Sedgwick, 41, Neville Street, is another Skipton soldier about whom no definite news has been received since the middle of September. Some time ago the parents received the following letter from Rifleman T. H. Swindlehurst, also of Skipton:– “I am writing you these few lines as one of Lewis’s pals and as a Skiptonian. We both did our training together in the King’s Royal Rifles, we both got transferred together into the Rifle Brigade, we were put into the same platoon, and we always got along together very well. We were the only two lads from Skipton. The last time I saw Lewis was on Friday morning, the 15th September. We were ordered to go into a charge and I never saw Lewis after we left our division. We both agreed to let one another have our addresses so that we could write home in case one of us was unable to write. Lewis was reported missing at the Roll Call and I should be pleased if you hear anything further if you will let me know.”

After receiving the above letter Mr. and Mrs. Sedgwick communicated with the military authorities and were informed by the Records Office that their son was reported ‘wounded and missing’. Two letters addressed to him by his parents have also been returned: one marked ‘wounded’ and the other ‘Present location uncertain’. Further enquiries are being instituted by various agencies, and the many friends of Mr. and Mrs. Sedgwick hope that some better news will be received by them before long.

Only 19 years of age Rifleman Sedgwick was in civil life an assistant at the shop of the Cash Clothing Company. He enlisted at the beginning of March last and had only been in France about six weeks when he took part in the charge referred to in the above letter. His brother Bert is serving with a unit of the Friends Ambulance in France.

17 November 1916

RIFLEMAN SEDGWICK OF SKIPTON KILLED

We regret to say that yesterday morning Mr. and Mrs. John Charles Sedgwick, of 41, Neville Street, Skipton, received official intimation of the death of their son, Rifleman Lewis Sedgwick, of the Rifle Brigade. As will be seen from a report on page 2, Rifleman Sedgwick was previously reported wounded and missing after a charge on September 15th.

24 November 1916

RIFLEMAN SEDGWICK OF SKIPTON

As stated in our last issue, Rifleman Lewis Sedgwick, of the Rifle Brigade, son of Mr. and Mrs. John Charles Sedgwick, of 41, Neville Street, Skipton, was last week officially reported killed, after being reported as wounded and missing after a charge on September 15th.

26 October 1917

IN MEMORIAM – BROUGHAM STREET SCHOOL HEROES

At the Congregational Church, Skipton, on Tuesday evening, an impressive musical service was held in memory of the teachers and old scholars of the Brougham Street Council School who have fallen in the first three years of the war. Particulars of the deaths of these brave lads have appeared in our columns from time to time, and their names are as follows:– Willie Barraclough, C.D. Bennett (teacher), Arthur Bruce, Sam Cairns, Cyril Calvert, Ennie Clarke, Tom Clarke, Harry Ingham, Tom Langman, Reggie Pollard, Lewis Sedgwick, Joe Stewart, Harry Tindall (teacher), and J.W. Varley.

There was a large and sympathetic congregation, including relatives of those in whose honour the service was held. Conducted jointly by the Rev. L.H. Gaunt and Mr. A. Townsend (headmaster of the school), the service, in addition to special prayers, hymns, collects, &c., comprised anthems by the Brougham Street School Old Scholars’ Choir (under the direction of Mr. Townsend), solos by Miss D. Wear and Mr. Clifford Townsend, and an address by Mr. Gaunt.

In a few introductory remarks Mr. Townsend explained the object of the service, which he said was one of praise rather than of sorrow for the splendour of the lives that had been laid down. – The anthems were ‘O God, protect with Thy strong hand’ (Greig), ‘Rest for the Weary’ (Gounod), ‘The Lord is my Shepherd’ (Smart), and ‘Peace to the Souls of the Heroes’ (Callcott), and in all these and in Nicholson’s setting of the ‘Magnificat’ the girls’ voices blended with pleasing effect, the singing being marked by a very fine tone and clear enunciation, showing evidence of careful training. Miss D. Wear sang most acceptably the exacting solo ‘I know that my Redeemer’ (Handel) and Mr. Clifford Townsend gave a meritorious interpretation of ‘The trumpet shall sound’ (Handel). In addition to playing the organ accompaniments with the customary taste and efficiency, Mr. W.H. Green contributed as a solo the ‘Hallelujah Chorus.’

In his address the Rev. L.H. Gaunt expressed his pleasure that the Congregational Church should have been used for a service of that kind and said he would rejoice if it could be used more frequently for public gatherings in which not only comparatively small circle of their own congregation might join, but in which the whole town might feel that it had some part. He also expressed his agreement with what Mr. Townsend had said as to the view they ought to take of the death of their boys, and said he felt that the Bishop of London – despite the fact that he had been taken to task for his expression of opinion – was right when he said that they ought not to think of the death of their boys as sheer calamity and overwhelming sorrow. They ought to think of them as having made a sacrifice bravely and heroically at the call of their country and for humanity, and those who were left behind to cherish their memory would honour them best by thinking of that sacrifice as a victory and not as a disaster; and their remembrance of them should come as a call to follow their example, to live so that they would be worthy of the sacrifice of their loved ones, and to bring to their lives into harmony with the great high note that they had struck in their sacrifice. They thanked God for what their boys had done and suffered, and most of all for what they had been and were now, and to ask His grace to follow in their train.

A collection was taken on behalf of the proposed new memorial of the Brougham Street School, which will probably take the form of a scholarship fund.