Maurice HARGREAVES (2)

23 August 1918

Private Maurice Hargreaves, Skipton

News has been received that Private Maurice Hargreaves of the Duke of Wellington’s West Riding Regiment, son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Hargreaves of 70 Otley Street, Skipton, was killed in action on August 15th. Private Hargreaves, who was 20 years of age, enlisted in September 1916, and went out to France in the latter part of December of the same year. He had previously been gassed. He was connected with the Skipton Parish Church, and was formerly employed by Mr. Frank Watkinson, Caroline Square, Skipton. Private Hargreaves’ father is also serving in the R.A.M.C.

In a letter to Mrs. Hargeaves, a chum of the deceased soldier writes:– “I think it is my duty to write to you and try and sympathise with you in the great trouble you have sustained in the death of your dear son Maurice. Poor Maurice chummed with me a couple of months back, and he, Charlie Hardisty (another Skipton soldier) and myself were really good friends, as you know. We were generally to be seen together, and on the night of his death I was but a few yards away from him. We were digging a trench in front of our lines, and we had almost completed our work when the enemy spotted us and shelled us. Maurice was killed instantly, and he suffered no pain whatever. He was carried down by our stretcher-bearers, who gave me the news that he had been decently buried. I was unable to go to see his gave because the division was relieved the next night, but I know where he is buried and some time I might be in a position to tell you. The boys of the platoon all wish me to extend to you their deepest sympathy, and I am sure his memory will always be fresh to them. All I can say is that I have lost a friend – a friend any fellow might be proud of. God bless his memory. Maurice died a noble death in a cause which is rightful and worthy.”

30 August 1918

HARGREAVES – Killed in action on the 5th August, 1918, on the Western Front, Private Maurice Hargreaves, Duke of Wellington’s West Riding Regiment, aged 20 years, eldest son of Joseph and Clara Hargreaves, of 70 Otley Street, Skipton.

“Greater love hath no man than this – that a man lay down his life for his friend.”

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.