Shoesmith,+Wilfred


 * Private Wilfred Shoesmith** of the Prince of Wales's Own (West Yorkshire) Regiment. Regimental number: TR/5/210398



1900: Birth on 24th June in Cross Roads, registered at Keighley in the third quarter of the year. The son of Zachariah and Elizabeth Ann Shoesmith (nee Edmondson). Father's occupation: Worsted Cloth Weaver. 1901: Census. Age 10 months. Living at 24, Keighley Road, Lees and Cross Roads, with parents. 1902: Father Zachariah Shoesmith died age 37 years. Buried 15th July. 1911: Census. Age 10 years. Living at Lorne Street, Cross Roads, Keighley, with his Grandmother, Uncles and Aunts. Wilfred's mother had remarried and was living at Cullingworth (now Elizabeth Ann Hall). 1918: 24th June, enlisted in Army at Halifax aged 18 years and 10 days(on 3rd July). Living at 9 Barcroft, Cross Roads, Keighley. Occupation: Spinner. Next of kin: Elizabeth Ann Hall. Height: 5 foot 1 inches. Weight: 88 lbs. Chest: 30, 1/2 inches plus 2 inches expansion. Hair: Brown. Complexion: Clear. Eyes: Brown. 3rd July, mobilized at Halifax. 6th July, posted to 53rd (YS) Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment at Halifax. [Note: (YS) means Young Soldiers] 24th July, transferred to 51st Garrison Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment at Brocton Camp in Staffordshire. 17th October, medical grade B2 (this means he was able to walk 5 miles, see and hear sufficiently for ordinary purposes) 28th November, Confined to barracks for 10 days for overstaying leave pass for one day. 1919: 13th March, proceeded to Clipstone Camp, Mansfield, for demobilization. Permanent address: 19, Barcroft, Cross Roads, Keighley. 11th April, transferred to Z Reserve. 1923: 29th May, at Skipton. Aged 23 years, re-enlisted in 6th Battalion Duke of Wellington's (West Riding Regiment). Height: 5 foot 7 inches. Weight: 136 lbs. Chest: 34 inches plus 2 inches expansion. Hair: Dark Brown. Complexion: Fresh. Eyes: brown. Religious denomination: Church of England. 1924: Marriage to Elizabeth Barber in the first quarter of the year, registered at Keighley. 1927: 31st January, service with West Riding Regiment completed after 3 years and 247 days. Electoral records show him as being registered at 6, Back Myrtle Terrace in Cross Roads from 1924 to 1927, then Higher Pease Farm in 1928, then 14, Sykes Bottom, Oakworth until 1938. He then lived at 59, Station Road, Oakworth from 1945 to 1957. 1971: Wilfred died aged 71 years in the second quarter of the year and his death was registered in Leeds.

Wilfred was one of those lads who 'missed the boat' for serving overseas in the war. Having been born in 1900, he was just under age and would only have reached the limit of 18 years and 6 months by the end of the war. I wonder if he regarded himself as unlucky? We may never know. He would have been conscripted under the Military Service Act anyway in preparation for service, and had the war continued he would probably have been sent overseas to serve and maybe even to fight in some capacity.

He wasn't a big lad but Army life must have agreed with him and he went from 5 foot 1 inches and just 88 lbs in weight (6, 1/4 stone) with a 30 inch chest at age 18, to 5 foot 7 inches, 136 lbs (9, 1/2 stone) and 34 inch chest by the time he was 23 years of age. The medical grade of B2 in October 1918 was indicative of poor nourishment for an 18 year old lad but the Army sorted him out. For a lad of his age only to be able to walk (not march) 5 miles, was quite poor. He was of course still growing at this time, putting on another 6 inches in height and 48 lbs in weight (almost 3, 1/2 stones).

No medal records exist for him so he could not have served overseas (this confirms what we know from his army record).

He is remembered with a photograph on the Cross Roads Primitive Methodist Sunday School roll of honour, currently held in Keighley Library archives. He is also named as one who served, on the Lees, Cross Roads and Bocking War memorial which is in Cross Roads Park bowling pavilion.