Pte 406638 Lemuel Leeke

• Age: 28
• From: Crewe, Cheshire
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 19th Btn
• K.I.A Tuesday 31st July 1917
• Commemorated at: Oosttaverne Wood Cem Whytschaete
  Panel Ref: VIII.G.10

Lemuel was born in the third quarter of 1889 in Crewe, he was the son of William Leeke and his wife Kate Hughes who were married in 1874 at St Paul's Church,in Crewe. He was baptised on 18th August 1889 at St. Pauls Church, Coppenhall.

The 1891 Census shows the family are living at Oxford Street, Nantwich. His father William is described as a Furnace man born in Shropshire in 1851, whilst his mother Kate was born in Burslemin 1853. Also present is Samuel Leeke the Grandfather of Lemuel, he is a 70 year old widower born in Monmouth in 1821. Lemuel has three siblings all born in Crewe; Clement b. 1882, Major b.1887 and William b.1888. There is also a lodger present at the property. 

The 1901 Census shows the family are living at 153 West Street, Nantwich. Both parents are in the household. Lemuel is incorrectly recorded as Samuel. His three elder brothers are present as are two younger siblings: Reginald b.1895 and Harold W. b. 1896. 

A newspaper article from 1910 describes Lemuel as a Slater and he gave evidence in a Magistrates Court concerning drunken behaviour by another man.  

The 1911 Census find the family at 103 Albert Street. His father, William, is aged 60, as his wife Kate, they have been married for 34 years and have had 14 children with 6 having survived. Lemuel is now 21 years of age and is described as a Slater. Also present are his two younger siblings: Reginald 16 and Harold 15. There is a boarder Andrew Colley 39 also present at the residence. 

He married Hannah Grubb at Nantwich in the second quarter of 1913 at Wedgwood Methodist Church (Heath Street, Crewe). 

London NW Railway records show he left their employment on the 30th September 1915, demanding his money(23/-).

His father, died aged 64, in 1915.

He enlisted in Crewe and originally served as Private 23822, of the Royal Lancaster Regiment. Following a transfer Lemuel was serving in the 19th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 406638 when he was killed in action on the 31st July 1917, aged 28 during the Third Battle of Ypres.

He had been treated for debility in 1916 and was discharged from the 4^th Stationary Hospital on 25^th October 1916.

19^th Battalion

The 19^th Battalion started the day in Divisional Reserve but were called forward in the early morning of 31^st July and reached Maple Copse in late afternoon. It was originally detailed to continue with the morning’s attack but this was cancelled and they eventually relieved a Battalion of the 53^rd Brigade in the newly captured line, sustaining casualties from shell fire.

The Battalion was relieved on the night of 03^rd/4^th August.

Although not actively engaged in the assault the Battalion lost 26 men killed or died of wounds with four officers and 101 men wounded.  

His death was reported in the Nantwich Guardian on the 17th August 1917:

PRIVATE L. LEEKE

News was received on Saturday by Mrs Leeke, Volunteer Terrace, Cowfields, Nantwich, that her husband Private Lem Leeke K.O.R.L.(sic), has been killed in action. A comrade who wrote stated that he was killed by shell shock. After the shell burst Leeke was seen to run a few yards and then fall dead. Private Leeke was 28 years of age, leaves a widow and three little children. Before joining the Army in April last year, he was employed at Crewe railway station. He had been previously wounded and returned to the front in June this year. Private Leeke lost a brother in the early days of the war and has another a prisoner in Germany. A third brother is serving at the front. Before coming to Nantwich Private Leeke lived at Albert Street, Crewe.

Lemuel was reported wounded in the Weekly Casualty List on the 11th September 1917:

King's(Liverpool Regiment) - Leeke 406638 L. (Nantwich);

He was reported killed in action in the Weekly Casualty List on the 25th Sept 1917

King's(Liverpool Regiment) - Leeke 406638 L. (Nantwich);

He now rests at  Oosttaverne Wood Cemetery, Whytschaete, Belgium.

The "Oosttaverne Line" was a German work running northward from the river Lys to the Comines Canal, passing just east of Oosttaverne. It was captured on 7 June 1917, the first day of the Battle of Messines, the village and the wood being taken by the 19th (Western) and 11th Divisions. Two cemeteries, No.1 and No.2, were then made by the IX Corps Burial Officer on the present site and used until September 1917. They are contained in Plot I, II, and III of the present cemetery, which was completed after the Armistice when graves were brought in from the surrounding battlefields (including many from Hill 60).

During the Second World War, the British Expeditionary Force was involved in the later stages of the defence of Belgium following the German invasion in May 1940, and suffered many casualties in covering the withdrawal to Dunkirk.

The cemetery contains 1,119 First World War burials, 783 of which are unidentified. Scattered among these graves are 117 from the Second World War, five of them unidentified.

The cemetery was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.

His Soldier's effects were sent to his widow, Hannah, Pension to Hannah and children Kate Alethia, and Lizzie Ann. 

Hannah remarried in 1920 to widower Harry D. Tilley at St Mary & St Nicholas, Nantwich, and she died aged 43 in 1925.

Lemuel is also commemorated on the Nantwich War Memorial.

His elder brother Clement was killed on the 03rd November 1915 serving as Pioneer 50313, of the 30 Field Company, Royal Engineers. He now rests at Railway Dugouts Burial Ground, Belgium.

His brother William has service records, as Private 8244 of the Cheshire Regiment, which has details of him being a Prisoner of War.

We currently have no further information on Lemuel Leeke, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.