George Jowett, Private 55654 15/17th Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment
George Kershaw Jowett, Private 28207 10th Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment
The Pudsey Memorial Boards contain quite a large number of names, of men who fought in the First World War, and one of those names is George K Jowett. The name George Jowett also appears in the list of Leeds Pals on our website, so I thought I would research him. But I had not gone very far before I realized that we actually had two George Jowetts, one with a middle initial K, for Kershaw, and one without. Both men, coincidentally, came from Pudsey, but despite there being four men with that surname only one George was named on the board, and he was the George who survived. Not all the names by any means were of men who had died, so both men ought to have been listed there, and I began to wonder if the problem was more than simply a missing name.
George Jowett was born on 23rd July 1899 in Pudsey, the first child of Thomas Jowett and Mary Eliza Craven, who had married in Calverley on 16th May 1899. He was baptised at St Lawrence’s, Pudsey, on 10th September 1899, and would be followed by six more children. They were Lawrence Arthur b.1900, Barran b.1905, Phoebe Alice b.1910; (according to a family tree she died in 1917), William Craven b.1912, Clifford b.1914, and another, who died before 1911. At the time of George’s birth they were living at 36 Greentop, Pudsey, but subsequently moved to 127 Smalewell Road, and then 10 Smalewell Road, presumably as the family grew. Thomas the father was a fettler and willeyer, and came originally from Tong. His job involved an early form of recycling, in which wool was carded, or untangled, ready for reuse. In 1911 George was only eleven and presumably still at school. Certainly there was no occupation listed for him on the census. When the war broke out three years later he was still only fourteen.
George was unlucky. Had he been born six months later he could well have survived, but he was eighteen in July 1917, which made him old enough to go and fight in France. His service records have not survived, but he was probably conscripted, had a brief period of basic training, and then joined the Pals in France. He was given the number 55654, and probably arrived just in time for the final German onslaught, the Kaiserschlacht, which was launched on 21st March 1918. At first it was a great success for the Germans, but gradually their advance ran out of steam, and the allies began to fight back. On 19th July the Pals were advancing and ran into heavier than expected resistance, resulting in quite a number of casualties, one of whom was George. Although the action is mentioned in the War Diary there are no specific references, just numbers of men killed or wounded. George was buried in Aval Wood Military Cemetery, Vieux-Berquin, France, only a few kilometers south-east of Hazebrouck, where George’s father was buried. He had died of wounds on 19th June 1917, age 41, having joined the 8th Bn, The Yorkshire Regiment (The Green Howards). He is also named on the Pudsey Memorial Board.
After the war George was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. Thomas, however, was awarded both of these and the 1914-15 Star, having gone overseas in August 1915 to France, and then in November to Gallipoli. His widow Mary would also have received a Memorial Plaque and Scroll, and another as the mother of George. In 1939 Mary was living with both William, a textile worker, and Clifford, an electrician, at 8 Station Street, Pudsey. Both sons served during the Second World War, William in the Royal Navy and Clifford in the Army and both survived. Mary died in 1961.
Which brings us to George Kershaw Jowett.
George Kershaw Jowett was born in Pudsey on 13th January 1889, making him a little over ten years older than our first George. He was the third child of William and Sarah, or Sally. There is some confusion over just who William married. The most likely candidate appears to be Sarah or Sally Illingworth. She was the daughter of Abraham Illingworth and Hannah Knowles-Kershaw. On the 1901 Census is an entry for William’s mother-in-law, Hannah Illingworth, a widow, living with William and Sarah. However, I have also seen a family tree with William’s wife given as Sarah Jane Kershaw, and there is a marriage recorded between them in Bradford in 1875. Sarah Illingworth’s marriage is recorded as in Calverley in 1882. The 1911 Census, filled out by Sarah, now a widow, says she had been married for 28 years, which takes us back to 1883. She also lists 7 children, all living, the eldest of whom had been born around 1884. So the balance of probability is on the side of Sarah Illingworth.
George had two older sisters, Clara and Ethel;, and four younger siblings, Lizzie, Ernest, Cyril and Gladys May. William was a stone quarryman, and later a stone merchant, before his death, probably in 1909, at the age of about 56. His children do not appear to have followed this trade, Clara and Ethel being in 1901 woollen weavers, while in 1911 Lizzie was a worsted weaver and Ernest a whitesmith or silversmith. George at this stage had left home, since he was now married. On 17th October 1910 he had married Ada Bailey in Bradford, and they went on to have 5 children, Hannah, after their great-grandmother, Phyllis, Gladys May, after an aunt, Sally, after their grandmother, and Donald Kershaw, an old family name. George gave his occupation as spinner, but that was five years later, and their address as 9 Long Row Marsh, Pudsey. The rest of the family lived at different times in various properties in Waterloo Road.
When war broke out George was 25, but perhaps with a growing family he did not feel the need to volunteer. In fact he did not sign up until 6th December 1915, when he was attested, and actually enlisted in Leeds on 14th April the following year, by which time conscription had been introduced. It is possible that George put his name down as ready to serve if needed so that he could have some say in which regiment he served – the Derby Scheme. He enlisted in the West Yorkshire Regiment, initially in the 10th Battalion, though later transferring to the 1st. He was not a perfect soldier, having three defaults on his conduct sheet, the first for appearing on parade unshaven, the other two for overstaying his leave. For the first of these he stated that his wife was seriously ill and there was no-one else to care for her. On all three occasions he was given a number of day’s CB. He was wounded twice, in October 1917 a gunshot wound in his back, and in March 1918 a shrapnel wound in his right thigh. Otherwise he survived the war, and on 18th September 1919 he was sent back to Britain from Cologne to be demobilized. A month later he was transferred to Class Z and so finished the war.
He was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal, and appears to have died in 1938, in Pudsey.
The only question remaining is whether these two men were related. At the start of the 20th Century the population of Pudsey was around 15-16 thousand. Jowett is chiefly a Yorkshire name, and I think the chances of their not being related are fairly small, but I have not found any link so far. Perhaps someone reading this will know the answer.
Sources:
Ancestry – Census Records, Medal Records, Service Records, Register of Effects, Baptism Records
Find My Past – Census Records
Free BMD – Birth. Marriage and Death Records
CWGC – Death Records
Researchers: Peter Taylor and David J Owen
Please Note:
- All opinions and inferences are the researcher’s own.
- Please refer to our Glossary of Terms for further information on the terms and phrases used in this post.
Leeds Pals Volunteer Researchers 