Arthur Douglas Woodcock, 2nd Lieutenant 15th Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment, though records show he was in the 10th Battalion and died while attached to the 2nd Battalion
During my early research into the life and service of Arthur Douglas Woodcock the only reference I found to him serving in the Leeds Pals was an entry that appeared in the London Gazette on 18th May 1915, confirming his commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 15th Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment on 3rd April 1915. This notice was repeated in the Yorkshire Evening Post on 19th May and both included Arthur Norman Hutton who had commissioned two days previously. He was wounded on 1st July 1916 and transferred to the Tank Corps in 1917. As there is no mention of Arthur Woodcock in the 1915 Battalion Roll or in the war diary one can only assume that his stay with the Battalion was brief. I have found only one service record at The National Archives (TNA) to an officer with that name, although it contains no mention of service with the 15th Battalion. It seemed likely that Arthur was transferred to another battalion soon after joining the Leeds Pals. The question is why?
Care must always be taken when viewing service record files at The National Archives (TNA) as occasionally papers relating to different officers are inadvertently placed on the same file, as was certainly the case with Arthur’s file. Three documents in it record that 2nd Lieutenant Woodcock enlisted in the 21st Battalion, King’s Royal Rifles Corps on 13th December 1915 and that he was promoted to Lance Corporal on 29th October 1916. They also state that after he attended officer training he was commissioned into the 4th Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment on 26th April 1917 and moved to France on 10th July that year. On 13th April 1918 he was listed as missing and later confirmed as a prisoner of war. In June it was reported that while in captivity he had died of wounds at Fortress Hospital Coln [Cologne] on the 4th. On checking the Commonwealth War Graves Commission registers I established that 2nd Lieutenant A D Woodcock was in fact 2nd Lieutenant Alfred T[aylor] Woodcock, which confirmed that the records of two officers had been placed on the same file. The remainder of the documents in the file were in respect of Arthur Douglas Woodcock and gave a different story. Additionally, I became aware of the excellent research by Nick Hooper for ‘Old Bradfordians – we will remember them’ which provided further information on his domestic pre-war life and schooling.
Arthur Douglas was born in Bradford on 11th June 1883 and baptised at Manningham on 8th July that year. His parents were Charles Varey Woodcock (1856–1925), a Commission Agent, and Kate Elizabeth Walton (1859–1939) of 1 Athol Road, Manningham. He had an elder sister, Ida Muriel (1882–1961) also born in Bradford and two younger brothers Charles Herbert (1885–1885) and Philip Lindley (1898–1899) who both died in infancy. In 1891 the family was living at 15 Granville Road, Shipley, and in 1901 at Holm Coux, Hipperholme before moving to West Park, Menston by 1911. When the War Office notified his father of his son’s death they wrote to him at Rhydding Lodge, Ilkley, although his reply, sent in November 1917, was from 19 Market Street, Bradford, which was possibly his office address.
Arthur was educated at the Hipperholme Grammar School before finalising his education at Bradford Grammar School where he also joined the 2/6th Battalion, Bradford Territorials. After leaving school he was employed as a Cloth Merchant’s Clerk. He was also a keen golfer, a scout master, a singer and a thespian, performing in productions in Bradford and touring Australia in 1912.
What happened to Arthur between April 1915 and April 1917 is not clear although his death gratuity confirms he served as an officer from 3rd April 1915 until his death in August 1917 (an indication that this was the man who gazetted into the Leeds Pals). It appears that at some stage during this period he transferred from the 15th Battalion to the 10th Battalion although he did not reach France until the 10th July 1917 (as recorded on his Medal Index Card) which is strange as the War Office sent a telegram to Arthur’s father notifying his that his son had received a slight shrapnel wound to the right forearm on 25th April 1917 and had been admitted to No.20 General Hospital. The 10th Battalion suffered substantial casualties while in action during the 1st & 2nd Battles of the Scarpe at Arras between the 10th and 25th April, losing five officers killed and eight wounded, including Arthur Woodcock, although the 10th Battalion war diary does not name the wounded. There were also 313 other ranks either killed, wounded or missing.
It was after release from hospital in Manchester that he returned to France on 10th July 1917 and was attached to the 2nd Battalion which, at the end of the month, took part in the Third Battle of Ypres. The war diary recorded that the Battalion suffered 220 casualties during the advance from Hooge to Gheluvelt Plateau, although heavy machinegun fire pushed them back to the Westhoek Ridge. After a period of recovery the Battalion moved back to the Ridge on 16th August to once again attack their objective. However, they suffered a further 274 casualties, due to their flanks being exposed to heavy enemy enfilade fire. The 2nd Battalion war diary lists Arthur as one of the missing that day among the ten officer casualties. It was reported by the 1st Anzac Corps Burial Officer that he had died of wounds or was killed in action on or shortly after 16th August 1917 aged 34 and had been buried by him in a temporary grave. However, fighting continued in the area and his body was never recovered; he is therefore commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial in Belgium. His father requested the return of his son’s effects although the War Office stated none were recovered. He also requested the War Office delay announcing his son’s death in the press as Arthur’s mother was recovering from an operation.
For his service Arthur was awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal together with a Memorial Plaque and Scroll. Although in his mid-thirties Arthur remained single so his medals and £84 9s 11d were sent to his father, with £2 17s 7d having been deducted for an outstanding mess bill. The family suffered badly having lost all three sons, two in infancy before the war and one in combat. When Charles Varey died 11th May 1925 his wife Kate and daughter Ida moved to a house in Belmont Road, Ben Rhydding where they lived for the remainder of their lives. They named the house ‘Tyne Cot’, presumably in memory of Arthur who was commemorated on the Memorial at Tyne Cot and on the Ben Rhudding Church and Ilkley War Memorials. Kate died on 9th March 1939 and Ida, who had remained a spinster, passed on 15th November 1961. She had been a Bank Clerk and at the time of the 1939 Register, shortly after her mother’s death, was living in Ilkley with Dorothy Parker, a nurse, although she later returned home.
Sources:
The National Archives – Service Record and War Diaries
Ancestry – Birth, Baptism, Census and Death Records. Medal Rolls
Commonwealth War Graves Commission – Memorial and Grave Registers
London Gazette – Appointments
Bradford Grammar School – Biographical details by Nick Hooper
Researcher: 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