Norman WATERHOUSE

28 July 1916

WATERHOUSE – July 1, killed in action in France, Private Norman Waterhouse, West Riding Regiment, of Mytholmroyd, and formerly of Steeton, aged 26 years.

28 July 1916

A FORMER STEETON MAN KILLED

Pte. Norman Waterhouse of Mytholmroyd, and up to a few years ago a resident at Steeton, died from wounds received in the recent advance on July, 1st. He was 26 years of age and was married at the Mytholmroyd Parish Church last February. The deceased joined the West Riding Regiment in August 1914, and had been in the thick of the fighting. In a letter to Mrs. Waterhouse, a comrade of the deceased, Pte. Waddington of Sowerby Bridge, states that he was killed on the morning of July 1st, being struck in the head with a bullet. Pte. Waddington and the deceased arranged to write to the respective home of each in case one of the other was killed. The reason he had not written earlier was that he had been hoping for better news, but he had now learned that Pte. Waterhouse had died from his wounds and was buried on the battlefield. His loss will be felt in the regiment very much. Sympathy is extended to the young widow in her bereavement.

15 September 1916

CRAVEN VILLAGE INSTITUTES – IDEALS AND ASPIRATIONS FOR THE FUTURE

The quarterly meeting of the Craven and District Village Institutes’ Association was held at the Steeton Mechanics’ Institute on Saturday afternoon, under the chairmanship of the Rev. A.C. Blunt, of Gargrave, the newly-appointed president for the ensuing year. Delegates were present from Gargrave, Oakworth, Cross Roads, Kildwick, Steeton, Cononley, and Gisburn.

Mr. Alfred Stell, president of the Seeton Institute, extended a cordial welcome to the new president and the delegates…

Appreciative Letter from the Trenches

The Secretary (Mr. J. Holdsworth) next read the following letter from Captain Cedric F. Horsfall, the late president, written from the trenches in France:–“Many thanks for your letter which I received a few days ago in the front trenches. You have, of course, done quite right in electing another president, and just as I should have wished you to do. I feel as though I have been of little or no use during my two years of office, owing to the circumstances over which I have had no control. After the war I assure you and your Association that you shall have my active support, as I know there is much scope for your work, especially after this war, and when unavoidably the home ties of many of the men will be weakened. I can see some difficulty in preventing wholesale emigration from our villages to the towns and the colonies, and every inducement will be required to keep them in the villages. I think the Institutes might do much to meet this need. I wish you to convey to your Committee my sincerest thanks for the honour they have done to me in allowing me to keep the position of president during these two eventful years. I wish you every success in your work in the future and I am sure that you will get much valuable advice and assistance from your new president, Mr. Blunt. I hope it is not out of place if I add a word of admiration of the men in this Battalion, many of whom come from our villages, and most of whom have been members of the various Institutes. They have not had an easy time lately, but they seem to thrive on work and do it with a good heart, and shelling hardly disturbs them at all.”

STEETON’S ROLL OF HONOUR

Mr. W.J. Johns, of Oakworth, moved that the Association express its sincerest sympathy with the village of Steeton in the great sacrifice that it had been called upon to make in the prosecution of the war. Mr. Weatherall, of Cononley, having seconded.

The Secretary read a list of the Steeton men who have been killed and wounded as follows:–

Killed – W. Dawes, Herbert Dove, Prince Dawson, Wm. Brooksbank, James Dove, Fred T. Ellison, Spencer Cliff (missing), Joseph Hales, Ewart Myers, Thos. Fitzsimmons, Wm. Robson, Thos. Robson, Arthur Smith, Wm. A. Teale, Richard Nicholson, Norman Waterhouse, Clarence Wilson, J. Nelson, Wm. Naylor.

Wounded – John Brooksbank, Wm. Brayshaw, Matthew Dove, Robert Anderson, Percy Race, Fred Baldwin, Fred Greenwood, Frank Throup, Ernest Cooper, Robert Williams.

The Secretary added that many of the wounded men were back in the trenches again, and it was also stated that several of the soldiers had been members of the Steeton Institute.

The resolution of sympathy was carried by the delegates rising in their places…