During the course of the twentieth century major conflicts have resounded across the globe and, quite literally, tens of millions of men have marched away never to return again because of these conflicts. This research has been aimed at just a fraction of those men, the men from Filey; many of who gave their lives in both the Great War and the Second World War, but just as many again whom did come back.

Filey, like so many other small towns around the country at the start of the war was reliant primarily on one economic source of income, in its case, fishing. Even wandering around the town today many different signs of this industry are present; the lobster pots that appear occasionally behind walls and in gardens within the town, the fishing boat motifs that appear on doors, shop fronts and in many other places, the vast quantities of fishmongers (& fish and chip shops), but most obviously the fishing boats on the coble landing. The industry today is a lot smaller than it once was and many have had to find alternative employment from their original family occupation, however an ever diminishing but dedicated fleet of boats depart regularly to fish around the Filey bay area, still using the ‘coble’ design of boat that as been used for centuries in this region.

In 1914 the fishing industry was essential to Filey’s survival as a town and for a while was not vitally affected by a war that seemed to all intents and purposes to be a far off affair to the townspeople, but as will be shown would soon change into something a lot more harmful. The first ascertainable casualty from Filey, Pte. Thomas Jenkinson, did not die until nearly nine months into the war. It is very likely that he had only been in France for a short time after volunteering at least eight months earlier close to the outbreak of war (as this was the standard training time for enlisted men), but there is always the possibility that he was enlisted already. At this point it is worth noting that only a fraction of the casualties (some nine casualties out of the known fifty-nine military) died before the middle of 1916, perhaps indicating that it was only when conscription came in on January 25^th of that year for every able bodied man between the ages of 18 and 40 to join the forces that the men of Filey finally joined the British Expeditionary Forces (B.E.F.).

The majority of the men died on the battlefields of France, but there were obviously some at sea and a couple in other theatres of operations. Looking at the facts it is clear to see that Filey suffered casualties from virtually every major campaign of the war starting in 1915 onwards, and also in proportion to the numbers involved in a particular battle, for example it lost seven men in the campaign around Arras, four men in the third battle of Ypres but only one man in the Gallipolli campaign. Like most places around the country it suffered after the battle of the Somme, with six men falling throughout every phase of the battle, from Pte. Hague and Lt. Outram on the morning of the 1^st of July to Pte. Skelton who died in mid-September of 1916. The cost at the end of the Somme campaign to the British Expeditionary Force was 19,240 men deceased, 35,494 seriously wounded and 2,152 missing in action, giving a casualty total of 57,470, nearly fifty percent of the size of the British Army at the outbreak of war in 1914.

At the time this was a war like no other, with battles raging on a scale that had never been seen before and obviously with these battles came the need to recruit or enlist more men to meet this demand. One of the ways in which this was done was the enlistment act of 1916, but in addition to this new battalions and regiments had to be raised to accommodate all the extra men with yet more manpower needed in the surrounding support services that also had to expand to be able to cope.

Within this expansion came the need to encourage men to go on active service and so what became known as Kitchener’s Army was formed. These, which were also known as Pals Battalions, were battalions raised within a county or even a town or city with all the men being from that area and was an attempt to encourage the eligible populous to all join up together. In theory this had noble beginnings when initiated relatively early on in the war but with the coming of the Somme heralded deadly repercussions that would be felt for a long time afterwards. The majority of the Pals groups were formed around the time of early 1916, so by May and June that year the plan was to bolster the regular Army, already on the front line, with many new battalions and therefore prepare for the offensive planned in the Summer. This in essence meant that when the Pals battalions went ‘over the top’ on July 1^st the vast majority of them had never seen combat before and many of them would never do so again. Battalions such as the Accrington Pals, the Sheffield Pals and the Barnsley Pals were decimated in the first wave of advance and the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce Battalion did not have a single surviving man after that day, but regular British Army regiments could be said to have been suffering just as badly. A horrific but true example is of a roll call taken at the end of that day for the 14^th platoon of the 1^st Royal Rifle Brigade where only one man answered, as the other 39 of his comrades lay dead or dying on the battlefield.

It was into one of these battalions that several of the men from Filey joined, the 10^th Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment, otherwise known as the 1^st Hull Commercials. As far as can be ascertained these men escaped the Somme only to die at later points during the war but in the long term the effect was similar. Kitchener’s Army was established in an attempt to encourage men to join up in groups of friends, family members, workmates and so on, but at the same time meant that they tended to be dying together as well. In many cases at the end of the war this left entire groups of friends and work forces deceased, leaving a nation to mourn and in some towns, also missing an entire generation of male young adults.

Filey alone lost seventy-one men during the course of the war, nearly a third of which at the time of enlistment were between 18 and 25 years old. As well as this the nine crewmen of the vessel ‘the Emulator’ were lost in April 1919 after it was sunk by a mine laid during wartime, so could also be added to that number giving a total of eighty. For a population the size of Filey’s it is hard to imagine what an effect that would have been on the local community with so many men never returning home and the effect on their loved ones would probably have remained with them for the rest of their lives. It is recorded that Filey had approximately 325 surviving veterans from the war, meaning that a total of around 400 men joined up from the town and about one in five of those did not return.

Because of Filey’s maritime heritage, it could have been expected that a large number of the affected population of the town would have joined up into the Navy, but the case in reality was that only one in eight of the casualties were out at sea, and out of these the vast majority were on requisitioned trawlers and drifters. These ships were almost certainly locally based and manned by the local fishermen who would have patrolled the coastline and swept for mines in the area, sometimes with tragic consequences. This is probably the reason why Mark Scotter was listed as still being serving in the Mercantile Marines at the age of 63 when his ship, the Susie, was intercepted and Mark was shot by one of the German vessel's crew. There was still a member of the town serving in the Royal Navy though, Able Seaman William Powley (see attached photo), who was killed during the Battle of Jutland and whose relatives still reside in Filey, albeit descended from his brother. His ship the H.M.S. Indefatigable was sunk early on in the battle after being hit by two full salvos’s from the German Navy and went down with a complement of 784 sailors and officers.

One of the most noticeable things when looking through the commemoration records is that there is no obvious separation of men from the different parts of the town. The men who fell were from all over the Parish, and many came from totally different backgrounds to each other. For example, there were soldiers like Sjt. Bulmer who lived on the Crescent, fighting side by side with soldiers like Pte. Douglas who lived, probably as a fisherman, on Queen St. but who was also fighting with Pte. Fox, a ‘country boy’ from Hunmanby. As well as the residential differences, there was the obvious occupational differences, the most striking to my mind being Pte. Watkinson who was the verger of St. Johns church at the time of his conscription. As much as these probably seemed important at the time, they mean absolutely nothing in terms of memorials and to their memory but it is still interesting to see. More importantly however, is the fact that by looking through the addresses and names to see that it is not an uncommon occurrence that brothers were being killed in action (the Southwell brothers, Frederick and Wilfred or the Taylors, Fred, Silas and William) and also next door neighbours (Edward Gash and Albert Stonehouse), again emphasising how much the country would have been plunged into mourning at the declaration of the armistice.

Another snippet of information that could be interesting is present within the personal details of the men with the surname Watkinson. William Jenkinson Watkinson, aged 47, died in September 1915 when the Trawler, the Zabulon, of which he was skipper was sunk. Two years later Robert Jenkinson Watkinson (mentioned above), aged 26, was killed in action in the Ypres campaign and perhaps it could be said to be more than speculation that this is father and son, as middle names in Filey were frequently passed down from generation to generation. In addition to this it is recorded that Robert Watkinson gave his additional family details as nephew of Denton Rickaby, which in itself is slightly odd as every other record with details present has either parental or spousal information, indicating that perhaps his parents were not alive or his mother would not consent to having her details listed, for fear of having to deal with a lost son and husband (a fear that may have been well founded).

A further discussion is that Filey did actually have some officers amongst its midst of casualties,Cap. Jones, Lt. Southwell, Lt. Birch, 2^nd Lt. Gwynne, 2^nd Lt. Outram, Major Brown and Major Ironside (a classic military name, if ever I heard one!), and unexpectedly came from all over the town. Unfortunately, some of the mens detailed records have been lost (hence, their Filey addresses are unknown) but Lt. Southwell’s and Lt. Gwynne’s have not, showing that the latter lived on Southdene and came from a military family initially (his father was a Major in the Royal Welch Fusiliers). The former came from Queen Street, probably no mean feat for somebody of his standing, as officers at this time were still almost always from at least a middle class background and to come from a working class family and be a commissioned member of the forces was a remarkable achievement. The final officer is Major Ironside who resided at Camden Villa, in Scarborough at the time of his death, but as he had lived his life in Filey until that point it was suggested that his name be included also on the Filey memorial.

Major Ironside, it is shown, had received decorations at various points during his military career, the most important being the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) and also the Military Cross (MC) but he was not the only one from Filey with any distinguishing awards. Pte. Glenton was a recipient of the MM (Military Medal) and in his case was most likely to have earned it during the course of the war for a particular engagement, as his battalion, the 5^th East Yorks., was not formed until late 1915/early 1916 (probably when he joined) and might even have been awarded post-humously (it might have occurred just before his death or actually been the cause), but unfortunately this is just conjecture as no details have yet been found on these decorations. 115,000 Military Medals were issued to NCO's and other ranks during the Great War but only a fraction, some 15,000 were issued during the second. The third member of the Filey men who was awarded a decoration or bravery was Lt. Birch, who received the Military Cross, presumably again for actions during or leading up to his death as he was only twenty four at his time of passing away, which again could say something about him and the circumstances in which he saw combat. The final officer with honours awarded to him was Major Brown who possessed the DSO, the MC and the Croix De Guerre (!) with palm indicating that he probably had quite a distinguished career and at one point had performed something the French must have deemed to be brave. The palm attached meant that a second similar feat had occurred, and he had been awarded the equivalent a second time.

Filey also possesses a connection to a Victoria Cross holder, the highest honour available to military personnel in the entire world; only 1354 have ever been bestowed since its point of origin around the Crimea War period and since the Second World War only 10 have been given. Major William Barnsley Allen (then Captain) was awarded this for is actions on the 3^rd of September 1916 when a gun battery near Mesnil, France under heavy shelling from the Germans had its ammunition supply hit and explode, causing several casualties. Major Allen ran across the majority of the shelled area to reach the men and tended to their wounds, but was hit four times whilst undertaking this and only proceeded to report his own wounds after making his way back to through trenches attending to a further officer casualty. After recovering from his wounds he returned back to the trenches until he was badly injured in a gas attack around the end of October 1918. His connection was that his parents lived at 6, Victoria Avenue and had grown up at least partially around Filey and although not technically a casualty, his actions are still worth noting.

It was not just that the war was fought outside the confines of the town though, be that at sea or in foreign lands, as military operations were evident within the town itself. Unlike between 1939-45, Filey did not have a huge military presence during the 1914-18 period but a military group did have certain roots there. The Huntingdonshire Cyclists Battalion was based in Filey throughout the earlier parts of the war, and as the name suggests, was more a battalion than a separate regimental entity. These men, from what information can be gathered were almost like a ‘home-guard’ for the first World War and were primarily for defensive purposes but towards the end of the war the battalion was dissolved into front line regiments, particularly the Royal Warwickshire Regt, the London Regt. (Royal Fusiliers) and the Army Labour Corps., and the men left Filey for the battlefields of France. This probably goes part way to explaining why Ernest Abbott was buried in Filey, as he was previously a member of the Cyclists even though he died in Easton General hospital in Cambridge from wounds suffered in combat. Probably the most viable explanation for this somewhat bizarre chain is that he came to Filey with the rest of the battalion at the outbreak of war, met somebody and decided to settle there, and so consequently is buried in St. Oswald’s Churchyard.

This commentary has hopefully provided a brief overview of the men involved in the conflict that is known as the First World War, but cannot even be said to be justifiably describing each man, his character or his life at the time of his death. I hope that this will just make it slightly easier when viewing the tables for the first time and give a few pointers and background to some of the information contained within. Also listed below is an overview of the regiments mentioned and the numbers of Filey casualties involved with each.

The Filey War Memorial was officially dedicated and unveiled on the 15^th May 1921 (Whitsuntide Sunday of that year) to a somewhat grand, but at the same time sombre, ceremony attended by (if period newspaper reports are to be believed) virtually all of the town as well as many dignified guests such as the Mayor of Bridlington and various relevant commissioned military and naval personnel. The service was conducted by Filey’s near legendary Canon Cooper (known to many as the walking Canon) who had only recently returned from a tour of the war-torn territories of Europe and proceeding this a meal was held for the ex-servicemen of Filey and their partners, of which nearly all attended (322 soldiers and their wives). The memorial was unveiled by Annie Culley, mother of Reg and Thomas Culley, both of whom lost their lives during the course of the war. Mrs. Culley gave a short but emotional and passionate speech on doing this and was followed by ‘the Last Post’ being played on a bugle with a prayer of dedication by the Canon.

One of the Taylor brother's graves in France.