Private Harold Varley

Prince of Wales’ Own (West Yorkshire) Regiment, 10^th (Service) Battalion Service no. 13031

Killed in action 1^st July 1916 First day of the Battle of the Somme, aged 21.

Story

Harold (pictured above left) was the son of William Varley (1866-1952) and Emily Derwick (1865-1900) who married in Kippax on 30^th May 1891.  They lived at 9 Warrington Row, Kippax.  Warrington Row (pictured below), also known as Waddington Row has now gone; and the Glencoe Estate stands in its place.  After Harold’s mother passed away, his father re-married Martha Annie Cook (1872-1953), in Kippax on 29^th February 1902.  Martha’s husband, Peter Pullan, had died in 1901.  Harold worked as a pony driver at Allerton pit before the war with his friend Charles William Armitage, also a pony driver.  The two friends joined the regiment together on 5th September 1914, along with Arthur Firth, and Charles is pictured above on the right, with Harold .

Prince of Wales’ Own 10^th (Service) Battalion

In 1916, the Battle of Albert was fought during the first two weeks of Anglo-French offensive operations in the Battle of the Somme 1916.  The Allied preparatory artillery bombardment commenced on 24^th June and the Anglo-French infantry attacked on 1^st July on the south bank from Foucaucourt to the Somme and from the Somme north to Gommecourt, 2 miles beyond Serre.  The French Sixth Army and the right wing of the British Fourth Army inflicted a considerable defeat on the German Second Army but from the Albert–Bapaume road to Gommecourt, the British attack was a disaster where most of the 60,000 British casualties were incurred, including Harold and Charles.  Harold is recorded at the Thiepval Memorial to the missing, on the pier and face 2A, 2C 7 2D (below).  His body was never found.

On 7th August 1916, the following notice appeared in the local press announcing Harold’s death:

Harold’s step-mother passed away at 13 Pawson Street, Laisterdyke, Bradford, and was brought back to Kippax for burial on 10^th January 1953.  On Victory in Europe Day, 8^th May 2020, Dean McLaughlin and his friend, using a Metal Detector, found the Victory Medal of Harold Varley below the ground in Idle, Bradford (below), which was subsequently returned to one of Harold Varley’s descendants:

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Kippax Soldiers listed on the War Memorial

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