Cpl. W.F. Pattinson

FIRST NAMES: William Frederick

UNIT: 4th Yorkshire Regiment

NUMBER: 200119

STATUS: Died of Wounds

DATE OF DEATH: 24th April 1917

CEMETERY OR MEMORIAL: Bucquoy Road Cemetery, Ficheux, France

AGE: 24


Corporal Pattinson was born in Birkby, Yorkshire, and was the only son of the late Frederick and Elizabeth Pattison. He lived in Oxendale & Barkers Yard, just off the High Street in Northallerton. Before the War he had been employed by Mr. M. Eden in his Fruit & Vegetable Shop in Northallerton.

He sailed to France with 4th Yorkshires in April 1915, was wounded and gassed during the 2nd Battle of Ypres in May 1915 and spent some time recovering in hospital in Rouen. He was wounded a second time, by shrapnel, during the Battalion's attack on Martinpuich, on the Somme, on 15th September 1916, the day when tanks were first used. This resulted in a six week stay in hospital, before being sent back to the Battalion as a Lance Corporal.

He was later promoted again to Corporal and was wounded a third time, aged 24, during the Battle of Arras on 23rd April 1917 in the fateful attack near Wancourt, in which several other local men lost their lives. Unfortunately, on this occasion he was not so fortunate and died of his wounds the following day.

On December 29th 1918 a special Remembrance Service was held at All Saints Church in Northallerton and on the Service Sheet there is an entry for a William F. Pattison. This spelling of the surname is confirmed in the records of the CWGC, and in entries in the Darlington & Stockton Times and the local Parish Newsletter, announcing his death. It seems almost certain, therefore, that his surname is spelt incorrectly on the Northallerton Memorial, perhaps as a result of confusion with a William Pattison, whose name also appears on the Memorial.