On this day...Death of Joseph Highley

Joseph Highley was killed in action on this day 20th July in 1918.

Joseph was born in Ovenden near Halifax in 1880. His father Joseph was a Stone Quarryman and in 1901 the Census showed him working as a Stone Quarry Dresser.

He joined the Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding Regiment) 2nd/4th Battalion. The Battalion was formed at Halifax and was involved in various actions on the Western Front. Joseph may have fought in the 2nd Battle of the Marne in July 1918, the last major German offensive on the Western Front during the First World War. He was killed in action on 20th July 1918, aged 38, and was buried at Marfaux British Cemetery near Reims in northern France.

Marfaux British Cemetery

Joseph Highley's gravestone in Marfaux British Cemetery
(Courtesy of Steve Rogers, The War Graves Photographic Project)