Private William Greaves

A white circle with a glove crossing it's fingers and the words: Made Possible with Heritage Fund.This man is a candidate for addition to Keighley's Supplementary Volume under the proposal to add further names in 2024, the centenary of the original roll of honour.
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Supported by the National Lottery's Heritage Fund, our project intends to submit about 120 names for peer review to add them to the book which is kept at Keighley Library. The unveiling of the book with it's new names is planned for November 2024, 100 years after the unveiling of the original war memorial.


Private William Greaves. 8th Battalion, Duke of Wellington's (West Riding Regiment) Service Number: 12053

A WW1 British Army soldier wearing a peaked cap and jacket.

Private William Greaves.

Early life:

William was born in Keighley in 1884 and his birth was registered here in the first quarter of that year. His parents were John Greaves and Mary Greaves née Wear. They were married in Keighley in the third quarter of 1883.
William's mother Mary was just 28 when she died in 1887 and her death was registered at Keighley in the first quarter of the year.
In the 1891 census William's father John was 27 and employed as a labourer in an iron foundry. The family were living at 49, Beck Street in Keighley with his two children William aged seven and Clarina aged five, who were both at school.

In the 1901 census William was 16 and appears to be an inmate in a reformatory school at Holme Upon Spalding Moor, near Market Weighton. This was Yorkshire Catholic Reform School founded in 1856, later known as St. William's Training School for Catholic Boys. William's occupation was 'agricultural labourer.'

William married Dinah Hopkinson in the first quarter of 1908 and she appears to have had an illegitimate son John Willie Hopkinson who had been born on 4th November 1907 and his birth was registered at Skipton.

In the 1911 census, William was 26 and living with his 22 year old wife Dinah and their three year old son John Willie (Hopkinson) at 5, Garden Terrace in Cowling. The census shows they had just one child from their marriage, implying that William was the father of John Willie, although in the census they do not share the same surname. William was a general labourer at a joinery works and Dinah was a cotton weaver. William was working for Messrs. J. Binns & Sons, Limited, Croft Mills and although Dinah had four local cotton mills to choose from it's most likely she was also working at Croft Mill which is the closest mill to their home at Garden Terrace.


War service:

William would have been about 30 when he enlisted at Skipton with the 8th Battalion Duke of Wellington's West Riding Regiment. He was issued with the service number 12053 and would probably have reported to the Duke of Wellington's Regiment Wellesley Barracks at Halifax for further processing, before eventually proceeding to Belton Park Army Camp near Grantham for training to be an infantry soldier. William's service number suggests he was an early enlistment, possibly in late August 1914. From other research we know that Private Ronald Eyre (12068), Private Frank Gill (12082) and Private Gerald Charlton (12085) who all joined the 8th Battalion, enlisted together on Monday 31st August 1914.

If the above is true then he would have trained alongside them at Belton Park and would have known about the death of Private Ivor Tempest Greenwood in early October 1914 after an outbreak of typhoid at the camp.

William would have been mobilised from Witley Camp with the rest of the 8th Battalion aboard the SS Aquitania from Alexandra Dock in Liverpool and sailed for the Mediterranean Sea, passing Gibraltar on 6th July 1915 and arriving at the island of Lemnos on 10th July. From here they moved to Mudros and then landed on the beach at Suvla Bay, Gallipoli in the first week of August.


An extract of the 8th Battalion West Riding Regiment War diary from August 1915:

IMBROS.
1/8/15 - In bivouac, uneventful.
2/8/15 - In bivouac, uneventful.
3/8/15 - In bivouac, uneventful.
4/8/15 - In bivouac, uneventful.
5/8/15 - Orders to proceed tomorrow to Peninsula.
6/8/15 - 4.30.
PENINSULA - Embarked for, landing unhindered at Suvla Bay.
7/8/15 - Heavily engaged in night and during day. Heavy losses.
8/8/15 - On beach, resting.
9/8/15 - In action, heavy losses. Lt. Col. H. J. Johnston wounded & missing.

William was killed in action on 9th August after an artillery and machine gun attack by the Turkish defenders on the hills above the beach, which saw many casualties for the West Riding men. William was 32 when he died.


Keighley News Saturday 2nd December 1915, page 3:

Mrs. William Greaves, Keighley Road, Cowling, whose husband was reported missing in August, 1915, has now received information that he was killed in August, 1915, in the Gallipoli Peninsula.
The information is from Pioneer Sergeant John Thorne, of Keighley, who is home on leave. He reports that Corporal William Greaves, of the West Riding Regiment, was shot in the neck on August 9, 1915, and was buried in the Oxford Circus Cemetery, Gallipoli. Before enlistment Corporal Greaves was employed as a weaver by Messrs. J. Binns & Sons, Limited, Croft Mills.


Similar information was also reported in the Craven Herald and the West Yorkshire Pioneer Newspapers (notification of this is courtesy of Craven's Part in the Great War website)

William was buried afterwards, but his grave was either not marked sufficiently or they could not identify him when they moved the graves after the war, so he is remembered on the Helles Memorial at Gallipoli, panel 118 to 120. He was 32 years of age when he died.

Graves from Oxford Circus Cemetery were concentrated into Azmac Cemetery, Suvla after the war. This cemetery has 390 men identified and 684 unknown soldiers buried there.


Remembrance:

Named on the Helles Memorial in Turkey (Gallipoli.)
William is named locally on the Cowling War Memorial and the Recreation Ground war memorial plaque.


Post war:

At some point after the war Dinah was living at 4, Lincragg Gardens, Cowling, Keighley.
Dinah would have received William's medals which were the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal, plus a war memorial plaque and scroll.
She received a payment of £2 2s 1d on 26th February 1917 and a war gratuity payment of £4 on 23rd September 1919.
She also received a dependants pension for herself and John Willie of 15 shillings per week beginning on 5th June 1916 which changed to 18 shillings and 9 pence per weeks from 4th April 1917 and then to 20 shillings and 5 pence per week from 1st May 1918. Her pension entitlement ceased when she remarried, but she was paid a remarriage gratuity of £33 19s 8d on 19th June 1918.
John Willie received his dependent's pension until his 16th birthday on 4th November 1923.

Dinah remarried, to Henry Binns at Holy Trinity Church in Cowling on 18th May 1918 and this was registered at Skipton. Henry was a 21 year old carter of 16, Middleton, Cowling and Dinah was a 28 year old weaver living at 146, Keighley Road.

They were all living at 146 Keighley Road in the 1921 census (taken on 19th June 1921.) They described John Willie Hopkinson as having both parents alive. He was 13 years and 7 months old and employed as a weaver. Henry was working as a carter for the Cowling Coop Society, Grocers & Provision Dealers. Dinah and John Willie were working for John Binns & Sons, Ltd. of Croft Mills, Cowling.

In the 1939 Register, Dinah was living at 4, Gibb Street in Skipton and employed as an artificial silk and silk weaver. She would have been 52 years old at that time. She died aged 56 in 1945 and her death was registered at Skipton.
A 1983 death record has been found for a John Willie Hopkinson who died at Lancaster. He was born on the 4th November 1907 which matches with our research.


Information sources:

England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1837-1915
England & Wales Births 1837-2006
England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1837-1915
1891 Census
1901 Census
England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1837-1915
1911 England Census
Keighley News archives at Keighley Library
Craven Herald
West Yorkshire Pioneer
Craven's Part in the Great War.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War
Army Registers of Soldiers' Effects, 1901-1929
World War I Pension Ledgers and Index Cards, 1914-1923
British Army World War I Medal Rolls Index Cards, 1914-1920
World War I Service Medal and Award Rolls, 1914-1920

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