Horace Highley

The next one in our series on Hileys/Highleys who lost their lives in WW1.

Horace Highley, born in Halifax, was the son of Joseph and Charlotte Elizabeth and in 1911, aged 19, was living with his parents and older brother James Wallace at 18 Grove Street, Bolton Brow, Sowerby Bridge. He was a Machine Fitter. The following year he married Emily Webster and a daughter Elsie was born in 1913.

Horace first signed up in July 1908 and then joined the Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding Regiment) 1st/4th Battalion in Halifax after war broke out in 1914. The Battalion fought in actions on the Western Front in 1915 and Horace was wounded in the field on 19th December 1915 and died at no. 10 Casualty Clearing Station, close to the Front, 3 days later. He is buried at Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery in Belgium.

Horace Highley's gravestone in Belgium
(included courtesy of Steve Rogers, The War Graves Photographic Project)

A year later Emily married James Bradbury in Halifax. The couple lived at the Turk’s Head Inn in Sowerby Bridge.