Pte 27510 Joseph Pendleton

• Age: 20
• From: Liverpool
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 18th Btn
• K.I.A Saturday 1st July 1916
• Commemorated at: Thiepval Memorial
  Panel Ref: P&F1D8B &8 C.

27510 Private Joseph PENDLETON, 18th Battalion KLR.

Joseph Henry Pendleton was born in Woolton, Liverpool on the 27th January 1896, the eighth of ten children born to Robert Pendleton and his wife Elizabeth (nee Maguire) who married in 1881 at St. John The Baptist Church, Tuebrook. He was baptised on the 18th March 1896 at St Peter’s Church, Woolton. 

The 1901 Census finds the family living at 22 Vale Road, Woolton, Liverpool. Joseph is five years of age. His father Robert is a 41 year old gardener born in Liverpool, whilst his mother, Elizabeth is 39 years of age, born in Warrington. His 9 siblings, all born in Liverpool, are listed as; Mary aged 19, Robert aged 17 and a helper in garden, Eliza aged 15 and a bobbin worker, William aged 13, Margaret aged 11, Edward aged 8 and his twin sister Kate E. , John L. aged 2 and George L. aged 1.

By the time of the 1911 Census the family are still living at 22 Vale Road. Father Robert is aged 50, still a gardener, mother Elizabeth is aged 49, they advised that they have been married for thirty years and have had ten children, all of whom have survived.  Joseph is now aged 15 and a grocer's assistant. His siblings listed still living at home are; William aged 23 a labourer on a farm, Margaret aged 21 and a packer in a bobbin factory, twins Edward and Kate now 18 and both packers in a bobbin factory, John aged 13 and George Leonard aged 12. 

Prior to the war Joseph had been an enthusiastic football player and a member of Garston South Shore Football Club.

Joseph enlisted in Liverpool on 03rd May 1915 joining the 18th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment as Private 27510.

On 30th April 1915 the 18th Battalion alongside the other three Pals battalions left Liverpool via Prescot Station for further training at Belton Park, Grantham. They remained here until September 1915 when they reached Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain. 

He crossed to France as part of a reinforcement draft on an unknown date in 1916.

He was killed on 01st July 1916 during the attack at Montauban, aged 20. 

The events of that day for the 18th Battalion are as follows:

At 6.30am the artillery commenced an intensive bombardment of the enemy’s trenches. Zero Hour – 7.30 am – the battalion commenced to leave their trenches and the attack commenced. The attack was pressed with great spirit and determination in spite of heavy shelling and machine gun enfilade fire which caused casualties amounting to 2/3rds of the strength of the Battalion in action. The whole system of German trenches including the Glatz Redoubt was captured without any deviation from the scheduled programme. Consolidated positions and made strong points for defence against possible counter attacks.

Graham Maddocks provides more detail concerning the events of the day:

As the first three waves began to move forward towards the German reserve line, known as Alt Trench and then on to the Glatz Redoubt itself, they suddenly came under enfilading fire from the left. This was from a machine gun which the Germans had sited at a strong point in Alt Trench. The gun itself was protected by a party of snipers and bombers, who, hidden in a rough hedge, were dug into a position in Alt Trench, at its junction with a communication trench known as Alt Alley. These bombers and snipers were themselves protected by rifle fire from another communication trench, Train Alley which snaked back up the high ground and into Montauban itself. The machine gun fire was devastating and it is certain that nearly of the Battalion’s casualties that day were caused by that one gun.

Lieutenant Colonel Edward Henry Trotter wrote in the conclusion of his account of the days action:

I cannot speak to highly of the gallantry of the Officers and men. The men amply repaid the care and kindness of their Company Officers, who have always tried to lead and not to drive. As laid down in my first lecture to the Battalion when formed, in the words of Prince Kraft:

“Men follow their Officers not from fear, but from love of the Regiment where everything had always and at all times gone well with them”.

Joe Devereux in his book A Singular Day on the Somme gives the Casualty Breakdown for the 18th Battalion as Killed in Action 7 Officers and 165 men and of those who died in consequence of the wounds 3 Officers and 19 men a total of 194 out of a total loss for the four Liverpool Pals Battalions of 257.

His death was reported in the Liverpool Echo on the 21st July 1916: 

WOOLTON CASUALTIES

Woolton township has suffered a number of casualties.

The youngest son of Mr and Mrs Pendleton of 22 Vale Road, Woolton, Private Joseph Pendleton of the "Pals", has been killed. Private Pendleton's elder brother Tom fell at Suvla Bay with the Lancashire Fusiliers. He was a member of Garston South Shore Football Club.

The Runcorn Guardian reported on 28th July 1916:

Private Joseph Pendleton of 22 Vale Road, Woolton, a member of the Liverpool Pals, has made the supreme sacrifice. News of his death was conveyed in the following letter from Lieut. Norman E. Barr, of the Seaforth Highlanders, in the following terms: “ it is with regret that I write to inform you that I found and buried the body of your son Private J. Pendleton on the battlefield opposite Montauban this morning (July 6th). I hope it will be of comfort to you to know that he fell with his face to the enemy, and his death must have been instantaneous: also that he was decently buried by British soldiers. I am sending you all the belongings I found on him”

Joseph's resting place described by Lieutenant Barr must have been subsequently destroyed as he has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme. He was 20 years of age.

The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916.

On 01st August 1932 the Prince of Wales and the President of France inaugurated the Thiepval Memorial in Picardy. The inscription reads: “Here are recorded the names of officers and men of the British Armies who fell on the Somme battlefields between July 1915 and March 1918 but to whom the fortune of war denied the known and honoured burial given to their comrades in death.”

Soldiers Effects went to his father Robert, whilst the Pension was paid to his mother Elizabeth.

His older brother, Robert, born 1883, married Louisa English in 1905 and they went to live at 83 Byrom or Byron Street. Robert enlisted in the 9th Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers as Private 9553 and according to his Medal Card served in the Balkans from 11th July 1915, earning all three medals. He was killed at Gallipoli on 07th August 1915, aged 31, and his name appears on the Hellas Memorial. He left four young children.

Joseph and Robert are remembered on the following Memorials:

St Peter’s Parish Church, Church Road, Woolton

Hall of Remembrance, Liverpool Town Hall, Panel 54

Joseph is also commemorated on the Garston Roll of Honour and Garston War Memorial.