Lest We Forget

We dedicate this page to the brave local men and women who served their country in times of war.  

Private Samuel Leetham - Service Number: 3/16192

Private Samuel Leetham served in the 8th Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment, having enlisted on 4th January 1915 at Howden before being sent to France.  Samuel died of severe gunshot wounds at Cambridge Hospital, Aldershot on 19th August 1916, at the age of 36 years.  He was buried in the churchyard at All Saints Church, Bubwith (North West part, Grave 43) on 23rd August 1916.  He was given a full military funeral, which was reported in the Selby Times on Friday, 25th August 1916.  According to this report, the coffin was covered by a Union Jack and was borne by six soldiers.  There were many mourners at the funeral, including a number of Spaldington people.  [3]

Samuel was born in Spaldington in 1880.  He was the son of Matthew and Jane Leetham (nee Stainton).  Matthew worked as a farm labourer.  Samuel married Gertrude Canty at All Saints, Bubwith, in 1903.   He left five children:  Jane Olive (b.1904); Gertrude Hannah (b.1906); Samuel (b.1908); Wilfred (b.1912) and baby Lena (b.1916).  Sadly, Samuel's son, Samuel Junior, was killed in 1935, at the age of 26, as a result of being attacked by a bull at Elder Farm, Willitoft.  [3]

WORTHY OF EVERLASTING REMEMBRANCE  [1], [2]

Private William Holmes - Service Number:  53110

Private William Holmes served in the 52nd Company of the Machine Gun Corps (Infantry), having previously served in the East Yorkshire Regiment, Service No. 23889.  According to the Selby Times, Friday, 16th February 1917, William died of pneumonia and trench foot in the Military Hospital, Grantham, on 12th February 1917. [3] He is buried in the South Part of St Peter Churchyard, Howden.

William was born in Spaldington in 1897, the youngest son of William and Ann Elizabeth Holmes (nee Davison).  William Holmes Senior worked as a Farmer at Sand Wood Farm, Spaldington, gaining some fame in the early 1900s by being featured in a number of newspaper advertisements for Charles Forde's Bile Beans.

In March 1918 a tragic discovery was made in Spaldington in a pond on land belonging to William Holmes Senior.  A report featured in the Hull Daily Mail of 27th March 1918 describes the discovery which was made by Private William Henry Knowles, of the Royal Engineers.  Private Knowles found the body of Sapper John Henry George Hayman lying partly submerged in the pond.  Nearby was a service rifle containing a spent cartridge and with a portion of the deceased's puttee attached to the trigger.   Sapper Hayman was a married man of Teignmouth, Devon, who was described as being of a quiet disposition.  However, people said that he had recently seemed to be 'despondent'. [3]

Private George William Fines - Service Number:  47995

Private Fines served in the 15th Battalion (48th Highlanders) of the Canadian Expeditionary Force.  He enlisted at the Military Camp, Niagara, Canada on 28th May 1915 but sadly died on 23rd November 1915.  He was buried in Wulverghem-Lindenhoek Road Military Cemetery in Heuvelland, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium, Plot 1, Row D, Grave 23.  (National Archives of Canada Accession Reference: RG 150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box 3091 - 5)  [2]

George was born on 16th July 1889 in Blacktoft, the son of Charles and Jane Fines (nee Cottingham) of Grange Farm, Spaldington.  In 1912, George emigrated to Canada, travelling 3rd Class with his older brother, Edward, and arriving in March 1912 at Saint John, New Brunswick.  Edward had previously emigrated in 1905, at the age of 19 years, and had been living in the farming community of Port Perry, Ontario, for the past six years, before returning to England, possibly to encourage his brother to emigrate with him.  

This seems to be confirmed by a 'British Bonus Allowed' stamp alongside George's passenger list entry.  This scheme was a marketing tool used by the Canadian government to overcome laws at the time which forbad encouragement of immigration by any foreign country.  A commission was paid by the Canadian Government Immigration Branch to steamship booking agents in the UK to recruit suitable settlers (eg: farmers) who purchased a ticket to sail to Canada.  This included a maximum payment of $50 to 'returned men' who had come back to the UK with a view to recruiting immigrants to Canada as, it seems, had been the case with Edward and George.  A further bonus of $5 was paid to Steamship Agents in the UK for each adult settler aged 18 years and over, plus further amounts to each homesteader and their family when they took up land in Canada.

After enlising in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, George was sent to France.  However, a few months after arrival, he was wounded in the trenches while on night duty, and died en route to the hospital.  He was the first Spaldington man to fall. [4]

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