The Fallen of 1914

Here are the names we have researched of those men local to Keighley and the Worth Valley, who died in 1914.

This list of names has been compiled from primary and secondary sources and each man named was either born, lived or worked in Keighley and the villages of the Worth Valley before or during World War One.
We believe that these are the same criteria used to create the original Rolls of Honour, the lists of our fallen which are kept in Keighley Library, and on local village war memorials.
If you know of anyone missing from this list of 1914 'fallen', please let us know.

Private Sam Schofield of the 2nd Battalion Duke of Wellington's (West Riding) Regiment.
When war broke out on 4th August 1914, he was quickly mobilized at Halifax on the 5th and the battalion was sent to France, arriving there on 27th August 1914. Battle had been joined with the German army just five days earlier and Sam would have been in the thick of it from early on, until he was posted as 'missing' two and a half months later.
He was given the date of 10th November 1914 as the most likely date for him having been killed in action as that is the day he was posted missing.
He has no known grave and is remembered on the Menin Gate at Ypres, in Haworth on the village war memorial, and on the Haworth Roll of Honour in St Michael and All Angels Church.

Private John Earnshawof the 2nd Battalion Duke of Wellington's West Riding Regiment.
John Earnshaw was born in 1882 in Cullingworth, a son of John and Mary Ann Earnshaw and one of twelve children.
In 1903 he joined the Duke of Wellington's (West Riding) Regiment and served in India for 18 months before returning home. He transferred to the Army reserves in 1906.
When war broke out on 4th August 1914 he was mobilized at Halifax the next day and sent to France a few weeks later, arriving on 31st August with the 2nd Battalion and they fought at the front for several months until he was posted missing on 8th November 1914.
His body was never found and eventually he was posted as having been 'Killed in Action'. He is remembered on the Menin Gate Memorial at Ypres and also here at Oakworth. He was 33 years old.

Bombardier Lawrence Wood of the Royal Field Artillery.
Born in Leeds in 1891 he enlisted with the Army in 1908 aged 17 years and he had been working as a Comber with Messrs Merrall & Sons and at the time he was living at 58, Spring Row, Oakworth.
He was still serving in the reserves when war broke out and was mobilized immediately. He arrived in France on 16th August 1914, with the 70th Battery, Royal Field Artillery.
He resided in Rock Street East, Woodhouse, Keighley, was 23 years of age and leaves a widow and a baby a fortnight old. He was killed in action on 23rd August 1914 and the first man from Oakworth to die in the war.
Lawrence is buried in Givry Communal Cemetery, South East of Mons, near to where the first battles of the war occurred.

Fifty Keighley Men died in 1914, their names were read out on Remembrance Day at Keighley in 2014: by Sea Cadet First Class, Jak Fox;  Army Cadet, Chloe Butlin;  Marine Cadet First Class, Joe Judson;  Air Training Corps Cadet, Arran Greenwood: