My great grandfather was 27 years old when he was killed in action by heavy artillery fire while his regiment was involved in trying to capture the village of Le Sars during the battle of the Somme in France. He left behind his widow Emmeline Louise and 3 children, Joe, Beatrice and Emmeline Louise, my grandmother, as well as his parents and 4 siblings. Before going off to war in 1915 he worked as a locomotive fireman for the Tyne Commissioners. Though originally from Kingston in Surrey, his family eventually settled in North Shields on Tyneside where many of his descendants still live today.

MICHAEL MORLEY