George Arthur Lumby (A very concise history)

Last August I wrote a post about my Great Uncle, George Arthur Lumby who was killed along with many other men fighting on the Western Front during WW1. I finished the post by saying that I would blog about the circumstances surrounding his death at a later date. After months of prevaricating I have finally gotten around to writing about his tragic death on 17th August 1916 in a futile attempt to capture 'Lonely Trench'.

However before writing the story of this fatal attack I would like to tell you the little that I know about my Great Uncle in order to bring him to life as a real person, not just a face in a faded photograph.

George Arthur Lumby was born in the year 1891 in Yeadon in the county of York to Mary Lumby (Formerly Buckle) and Samuel, a Labourer in a Woollen Mill; who later became a Woollen Fettler.

My connection to George is through his elder sister Helena (b:1885) who was my Maternal Grandmother however she died long before I was born (She is standing between George and their brother Charles in the photograph above). The family lived at Haw Lane in Yeadon but by the time George was ten years old the family had grown in size and moved to 18 Springfield Terrace, Bagley. I believe that Bagley is now part of Farsley a small village suburb between Leeds and Bradford. I know this area slightly because I spent many a holiday at my Aunt's house in Farsley during my childhood in the 1960's.

George grew up to become a Nursery Gardener and at the age of twenty one he married Elizabeth Ann Kyle a Domestic Servant on 30th November 1912 at St Marks Church in Harrogate, North Yorkshire. Their home address was given as 2 Grey Street, Harrogate a small terraced house not far from the Church. I have recently been informed by a distant cousin (who I was unaware of) that they had one child, a girl called Violet who was born in 1913.

On 4th august 1914 Britain declared war on Germany after the Kaisers Armies invaded neutral Belgium. From the outset the Government realised that this was going to be a protracted conflict and that we needed to increase the size of our Armed Forces, particularly the Army. Therefore there was a call to arms in which thousands of young men rushed to join the colours, looking for adventure and wishing to do their bit for King and Country.

Soldiers of The West Yorkshire Regiment in Training.

Many of these young men joined what was known as Kitcheners New Army; an army of Comrades who worked and played together and who were encouraged to join up in local Pals battalions, to serve and fight together. This policy was later seen to be fatally flawed when many hundreds of them died together on 1st July 1916 during the first day of the Battle of the Somme (There were fifty seven thousand casualties that day, including nineteen thousand dead, this has gone down as the darkest day in British Military history).

George like so many married men with children did not join the initial rush to war, they were men with responsibilities who could not afford to join the army. In 1914 there was no Social Security so if they were killed or seriously injured who was going to look after their families.  George would have joined the army some time in 1915 and was first posted to the front as far as I can ascertain only about a month before he died (His service record was destroyed during the blitz when the PRO was bombed so I have had to piece his history together from other sources).

British Infantry in German Dug-Outs

The unit that George joined was the 12th (S) Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment (S for Service denotes a New Army Battalion) which was formed in York in September 1914. After training at Halton Park Camp in Buckinghamshire on land given to the army by Lord Rothschild, the Battalion was sent to France in September 1915. They arrived just in time to take part in the Battle of Loos on 26th September after a forced march.

A Postcard from home

After serving near Ypres and Armentieres the Battalion arrived on the Somme in early July 1916 and took part in the Battle of Bazentin Ridge 14 - 17 July and later the attempt to capture Delville (Devils) wood and the Pozieres Ridge 20 - 24 July. I believe that George joined the Battalion as part of a replacement draft just after this action. By 16th August the 3rd Division of which the 12th West Yorks were a part were in trenches near the village of Guillemont facing towards the German occupied Lonely Trench. An attack by the 8th and 13th Kings Own on this day failed to capture Lonely Trench because of a Trench Mortar bombardment. Another attack was planned for 17th August 1916! 


Note: I would like to thank Ian Kevan, my distant cousin and a direct descendant of Charles Lumby (who is researching the Lumby Family history) for information on George and Elizabeth's daughter Violet as well as other information that he has sent to me about my own Grandfather.