A visit to Thiepval (4 - Leonard Hiley)

The post today returns to my trip to Thiepval in July and the last of the 4 names on the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme battlefields.

Leonard Hiley was born in Eccles, Lancashire in about 1885. He was educated at the Eccles British Schools. In 1905 he married Ethel May Whitehead in Weaste and they lived at 59 Knight Street, Eccles. Leonard and his father Beaumont Hiley were both Tripe Dressers. Leonard and Ethel May had 4 children - Dora (b 1906), Winston Beaumont (b 1910), Leonard (b 1912) and Gwyneth (b 1916).

Leonard was employed at the Ship Canal Sand Box Works at Weaste and enlisted in Salford in 1915 with the Lancashire Fusiliers 19th Battalion, the 3rd Salford Pals. He attained the rank of Lance Corporal. The Fusiliers' first taste of action was at Thiepval Ridge in the Battle of the Somme on 1st July 1916, the Salford Pals being almost wiped out. Leonard was one of those killed in action on that day.

An online 'Database of the Missing' can be viewed on the computers in the Visitor Centre at Thiepval. Leonard is among the soldiers shown and the images below are taken from this database.

A visit to Thiepval (3 - Joe Hiley)

Today's post is about Joseph (Joe) Hiley, the third of the four names on the Thiepval memorial.

Joe was born in Torworth near Retford in Nottinghamshire in 1892. In 1911 he was listed as a ‘Ram Driver at Pit’ and when he enlisted in September 1914 a ‘Coke Oven Worker’.

Joe joined the York and Lancaster Regiment 8th Battalion where he became a Lance Corporal. He was killed in action on 1st July 1916, attacking Ovillers where his Battalion suffered 635 casualties. It was the first day of the Battle of the Somme. The Battalion suffered very heavy losses and most of the men were either killed or injured. His medals and effects were sent to his mother Hannah Hiley, widowed, of Wickersley in Rotherham.

A visit to Thiepval (2 - James Highley)

 

James Highley was a Rifleman with the Rifle Brigade (8th Battalion). He was born in Halifax and on the night of the census in 1911 was living at home with his 2 brothers and 2 sisters. His mother Emily Caroline, recently widowed and working as a Charwoman, spent the night elsewhere. James was working as a Painter’s Labourer.

The 8th Battalion was part of the 14th Division, 41st Brigade and was involved in the Battle of Flers-Courcelette in the Somme in September 1916. James was killed in action on 15th September 1916. His effects were sent to his sister Elizabeth Stott (nee Highley).

A visit to Thiepval (1 - Norman Hiley)

The Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme battlefields, near Albert in northern France, bears the names of 72,194 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces.

Four of these men had the Hiley or Highley surname. Today's post features Norman Hiley.

Thomas Norman Hiley, born in 1889, was from Shipley near Bradford in Yorkshire. He was the youngest of the 7 children of Joseph and Sophia who survived, 4 having died young. In 1911 Norman was a Warehouseman.

Norman was a Sergeant in the East Yorkshire Regiment 7th Battalion. The Battalion was part of the 17th (Northern) Division. The Division’s first major engagement was in July 1916, when it fought in the battles of Albert and Delville Wood, both part of the larger Battle of the Somme. Norman was killed in action on the first day of this battle, 1st July 1916.

Leonard Hiley

Another Hiley to lose his life in the First World War 103 years ago this week was Leonard Hiley.

Leonard was born in Eccles, Lancashire in about 1885. In 1905 he married Ethel May Whitehead in Weaste and a daughter Dora was born the following year. Leonard and his father Beaumont Hiley were both Tripe Dressers. In 1911 Leonard, Ethel May and Dora, along with another child Winston Beaumont were living with Ethel May’s father George Whitehead, now a widower. Another son Leonard was born in 1912.

Leonard enlisted in Salford in 1915 with the Lancashire Fusiliers 19th Battalion, the 3rd Salford Pals. Their first taste of action was at Thiepval Ridge in the Battle of the Somme on 1st July 1916, the Salford Pals being almost wiped out. Leonard was one of those killed in action on this day and his name is remembered on the Thiepval memorial in northern France.

Leonard Hiley's name on the Thiepval memorial

(Included courtesy of Steve Rogers, The War Graves Photographic Project)