L/Cpl 19270 Joseph Moores

Joseph Moores was born in Salford on 18th March 1891, the youngest son of Joseph Moores and Hannah (née Higginson).  His father was born in Leek, Staffordshire, and his mother in Urmston, near Manchester.  They married in 1875 and had eight children, two of whom died young.  Joseph had older siblings Thomas, Florence, Emily, and Lavinia (called Vina), and a younger sister Phoebe.

 

He was baptised in Christ Church, Salford, on 17th May, his parents’ residence given as 17 Tayler Street, and his father’s occupation listed as bricklayer.

 

1891 at 19 Tayler/Taylor Street, Salford, with five children.  His father is 36, a bricklayer, his mother is 34, and Joseph is 3 weeks old. 

 

His mother died in 1899, aged 43, when Joseph was eight years old.

 

The 1901 census finds his father and four children living with his father’s married sister and family, Lavinia and James Quinn, at 19 Thomas Turner Street, Salford.  His father is 45, a bricklayer, Emily 16, and Lavinia 13, are both weavers, Joseph is 10, and Phoebe 6. Phoebe died not long after the census, at age 6. 

 

In 1911 Joseph is living with his father and sister Emily at 22 Bright Street, Salford.  His father is a bricklayer, Emily is 27, a weaver in a cotton mill, and Joseph is 20, a labourer in an iron foundry.

 

His father died 1912 aged 57.  

 

Joseph enlisted in Manchester on 8th September 1914, giving his age as 23 years and 6 months, and his occupation as iron turner.  He is described as being 5’ 3 and three-quarter inches tall and weighing 119 lbs, with a fresh complexion, grey eyes and dark brown hair.  He states no religion, and gives his next of kin as his married sister Vina Hall, 20 Whittall(?) Street, Salford.  The day he enlisted Joseph was posted to the Army Reserve, and on 14/9/1914 to the King’s (Liverpool) Regiment Depot, then to A Company, 13th Bn K.L.R. on 2/10/1914.

 

Whilst training at Aldershot, he forfeited 7 days’ pay for overstaying his leave from July 4th-10th, and received 7 days’ Field Imprisonment.  

 

He arrived in France with his battalion on 26th September 1915, disembarking at Le Havre.

 

Whilst in the Ypres Salient, on 11/12/1915 at Poperinghe, for insolence and using obscene language to an NCO, he was awarded 14 days’ Field Punishment No.2.

 

In February and March 1916 the battalion took part in the actions at the Bluff and St. Eloi, near Ypres. 

 

24/6/1916 Appointed unpaid L/Cpl

 

By the summer of 1916 the battalion moved south to the Somme.  In the first two weeks of July 1916 the battalion took part in the Battles of Albert and Bazentin Ridge.  Joseph was wounded in action, with a gunshot wound to the thigh, on 14th July, and on the 17th was evacuated to England on the Hospital Ship Marama.

 

Whilst in England recovering from his wounds, Joseph married Clara Fenton on 13th September 1916 at Patricroft Parish Church.  No records of children born to the marriage have been found.

 

18/9/1916 Whilst at Cosheston Camp, Pembroke, reprimanded for overstaying his leave from tattoo until 9:30 p.m. on 20/9/1916

20/9/1916 Posted 3rd (Garrison) Bn

4/12/1916 Whilst at Prees Heath, absent from reveille until 4 a.m. on 5/12/1916

6/12/1916 Deprived of Lance stripe for absence 

12/12/1916 Forfeited 21 days’ pay and confined to barracks for 14 days for overstaying his pass from 2 p.m. until reveille on 14/12/1916

2/1/1917 Posted 4th Bn

 

3/1/1917 Embarked for France

5/1/1917 Posted 19th Bn

7/1/1917 Joined 19th Bn in the field from 24 I.B.D.

24/1/1917 Appointed unpaid L/Cpl

5/2/117 Admitted to 97th Field Ambulance with fever of unknown origin

11/2/1917 Admitted No.30 (Dressing Station?)

14/2/1917 Rejoined unit in the field

25/2/1917 To Field Ambulance, sick

27/2/1917 admitted to No.43, Casualty Clearing Station, pneumonia

1/3/1917 telegramme sent, dangerously ill with pneumonia 

 

Joseph died of pneumonia on 1st March 1917. 

 

He now rests in Warlincourt Halte British Cemetery, Saulty, southwest of Arras.

The site of the cemetery was chosen in May 1916. It was used from June 1916 to May 1917 by the 20th and 43rd Casualty Clearing Stations, in February 1917 by the 1/1st South Midland, and from April to June 1917 by the 32nd. The whole of plots VII, VIII, IX and X were filled in April and May 1917, the months of the Battles of Arras. From June 1917, the cemetery was practically unused until the fighting of May and June 1918, when field ambulances buried in it. After the Armistice the cemetery was increased by graves brought in from other smaller cemeteries.

The cemetery now contains 1,266 Commonwealth burials of the First World War. There are also 29 German and two French war graves.

The cemetery was designed by Charles Holden.

Joseph earned his three medals.  His personal effects were sent to Clara at 40 Station Road, Patricroft, on 16th July 1917:  1 Disc, Letters, Photos & Cards, 1 Cap badge, 1 Pr kid gloves, 1 belt, Cig case.

 

In 1919 when Clara provided information on Joseph’s living relatives, she stated that his parents were no longer living, and the whereabouts of his brother Thomas and sisters Vina, Florence, and Emily, were not known. 

 

His widow Clara, then at 36 Nelson Street, Patricroft, Manchester, received his Army Effects of £2-0s-1d, and a War Gratuity of £11.  She was awarded a separation allowance of 9/- a week, and later a pension of 13/9d a week.  In June 1920 Clara received his 1914-15 Star.

 

Clara remarried in 1920, now as Mrs. C. Roberts, received Joseph’s Victory and British War medals.  

 

His brother Thomas enlisted in 1900, served in South Africa and Malta, and completed his service in 1912. He rejoined in December 1915 with the Northumberland Fusiliers, was mobilized in July 1917 and was awarded a disability pension in October 1918 for chronic bronchitis.

 

Joseph is commemorated on the Salford Lad’s Club Memorial

N.B. SDGW gives his name as James, CWGC J. Moores, but all military records show Joseph.