King’s Own Yorkshire light Infantry, 6th Battalion, service no. 26238
Son of Joseph Webster and Ann Thompson, Well Lane Kippax
Died: 24th August 1917, aged 22
Story
Edward’s father was a coal miner, and Edward was a screener / belt boy at Allerton Bywater Colliery. Born in 1895, Edward enlisted in the Army in 1914. The 6th Battalion, King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry was raised at Pontefract on the 12th August 1914 as part of Kitchener’s First New Army. They trained at Woking, moving to Witley in November 1914, then Aldershot in 1915 for final training. They landed at Boulogne, France on the 21st May 1915, and fought in the action of Hooge, becoming the first division to be attacked by flamethrowers. They were in action in the second attack on Bellewaarde, and in 1916, they were on the Somme, fighting in the Battle of Delville Wood and the Battle of Flers-Courcelette. In 1917, they fought in the German retreat to the Hindenberg Line, the First and Third Battle of the Scarpe at Arras, the Battle of Langemarck and the First and Second Battle of Passchendaele. Edward’s father received £2 1s 7d from the army following his son’s death.
Above: German flamethrowers attacking Hooge.
Kippax Roll of Honour 