Rainforth POOLEY

20 October 1916

DENT AND COWGILL – Wounded

Pte. Geo. Kiddle, Northumberland Fusiliers, is in hospital near Northampton, suffering from wounds in the leg and bruises received at the Somme.– Pte. R. Powley, R.A.M.C., is in hospital in Edinburgh suffering from wounds in the face through shrapnel.

18 May 1917

POWLEY – April 28th 1917, killed in France by shell explosion, Pte. R. Powley, R.A.M.C., formerly of Dent, aged 25 years.

18 May 1917

DENT – THE WAR'S TOLL: PRIVATE R. POWLEY, R.A.M.C.

News has been received in Dent that Private R. Powley, R.A.M.C., of Dent, was killed in France by the explosion of a shell on the 28th of April. Writing to his sister, the Senior Chaplain says:– “He was on duty at the advanced dressing station of his ambulance, and had just gone to get tea with four of his comrades to the cellar of one of the houses in the village nearby where they had taken up their abode, when a shell made a direct hit on the cellar killing three of them outright and wounding the other two. It will doubtless be a consolation for you to know that your brother’s death was instantaneous. These are the first casualties sustained by the ambulance since it has been out here, a fact which is remarkable when one remembers the perils in which the men have often been while at their work of carrying in the wounded. The bodies were brought down to the headquarters of the ambulance and buried on April 30th in the little British Cemetery which we have been obliged to commence in the village. It is situated in a shady spot under the trees, just behind the ruined village church. The Colonel and all the available officers and men of the Ambulance attended the funeral, and the bodies, covered with the Union Jack, wore borne on stretchers at the head of the procession to the graveside, where I had the sad privilege of officiating.”

Private R. Powley was 25 years of age.

25 May 1917

DENT – IN MEMORIAM

On Sunday afternoon the Rev. J. Harrison conducted a service in the Congregational Chapel, in memory of the late Pte. R. Powley, R.A.M.C., who was killed by a shell in France last month. He spoke very highly of the deceased, who was a careful and steady person who used all his spare time in study for his self-improvement.

01 June 1917

DENT – MEMORIAL SERVICES

A memorial service in memory of the local soldiers who have recently fallen in the war was held in St. Andrew’s Church on Sunday. The soldiers lost include Pte. N. Hawkings, West Yorks.; Pte. R. Powley [Pooley], R.A.M.C.; Pte. B. Pinch, R.F.A., who have been killed in action; Pte. W. Bentham, Duke of Wellington’s, who has been missing since October last; Pte. W. Brunskill, London Civil Service Rifles, who has been missing since last September; Pte. P. Dixon, who has been missing since July last and is now considered killed in action. There was a very large congregation, and the service opened with the voluntary ‘O Rest in the Lord,’ and included special lessons, part of the Committal service for the Burial of the Dead, a sermon by the Vicar from the text, ‘Unto God will I commit my cause’ (Job v. 8), and concluded with the hymn, ‘Now the labourer’s task is o’er,’ and the voluntary ‘Crossing the Bar.’

A memorial service was held in the Primitive Chapel, Deepdale, on Sunday afternoon in memory of Pte. B. Pinch, eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. T. Pinch, of Deepdale. The service was conducted by the Rev. P.H. Powell, of Dent, and there were a good number of sympathetic friends and relations present.