38794 Pte Horace Wilkinson, 9th Battalion, The King’s Own (Yorkshire Light Infantry)
Horace Wilkinson’s medals were another group found on a dealer’s website in the North East of England. It’s sometimes amazing how medals can travel, this group being no exception; Horace was born in Dudley Port, an area of the West Midlands.
Horace was born in Dudley, Staffordshire in 1899. When he enlisted, his address is given as 206, Halfords Lane, Smethwick, Staffs. This address will be familiar to anyone, like me, who follows West Bromwich Albion Football club; Halfords Lane runs down the side of the Hawthorns Stadium, although all traces of housing are now long gone (replaced mainly by factory units)
No service records exist now (all information provided within this write up is from official war diaries for the 9th Battalion) but an MIC is available for Horace; it states entitlement to the BWM and Victory pair.
It seems at first he was placed into the KOSLI young persons training reserve, being given the service number 86867. These reserves were only operated until around October 1917, thus I can only assume this is when Horace would have been sent to France to join the 9th battalion as soon as he turned 18 years old. With the information I have (war diaries) I cannot say absolutely which action Horace would have been involved with first; only that he must have left the familiarity of his home town for the mud and squalor of the trenches at Passchendaele, then onto Cambria.
The 9th battalion formed part of the 21st division, so needless to say they were present at most of the early battles of 1918. On the night of the 28th April the 9th battalion moved by light railway to ‘Ambush camp’ at Guyancort, where they took up observation duties along with training and securing the trench systems. The 9th also took part in a football match against the East Yorkshires, losing 3 -1.
On the 18th March, 2 companies from the battalion took part in an enemy trench raid, successfully capturing a number of German prisoners. The enemy retaliated with heavy shellfire onto their positions, lasting for days. All through the morning of the 22nd March the bombardment became heavier until around 2pm when the shelling subsided. This was replaced by a number of enemy aircraft flying low over the 9th’s positions, which resulted in machine gun fire from both sides. This action resulted in Lieutenant Hargreaves and Private Horace Wilkinson losing their lives. His MIC simply states: ‘Presumed dead’
Horace is listed on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission as the son of Alfred Wilkinson, of 206 Halfords Lane, Smethwick, Staffs. He has no known grave, and as such is commemorated with the many thousands of others on the Pozieres Memorial, Somme, France.
Horace was only 19 years old when he gave his life, an age that these days, you would hardly be considered be an adult.
Along with his BWM and Victory medal pair, Horace was awarded the memorial plaque (Often referred to as the ‘Dead Man’s Penny’) – this still resides in its original cardboard sleeve.
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