AROUND TOWN
Jane Watson nee Ferdinand
“People always used to joke that he’d survived the Somme but would end up getting run over walking all the way to Lundwood Club from Cundy Cross every day because he couldn’t see”
Thomas Arthur chose a regiment up north. William, the fourth child, started his army career at 19 while the rest of his family lived in Barnsley. At the start of the war, he’d been in the military for 16 years, rising to Second Lieutenant. His younger brother Thomas was a Private in the same troop, having joined his brother while also working as a platelayer on the railways in Barnsley. Before the war, the brothers served in India and South Africa for over three years, sent to France when the war broke out. In August 1914, Thomas was wounded in Lille and spent Christmas at home with his family before returning in the New Year where the troop headed to Ypres in Belgium. It is here that William’s bravery and earnest leadership skills took hold. After their Captain was killed and the majority of the platoon wounded or killed in May 1915, Willie continued to hold down the trench in spite of heavy shellfire, earning himself the Military Cross. In a letter written by Thomas, he described how proud the battalion was of his brother and wished the Barnsley Chronicle to publish his story.
“Our brigade was ordered to take three lines of German trenches. My regiment took the first which was 100 yards away. Inside half an hour the three trenches were taken. Of course, we lost a lot of men on the way but we accounted for a number of Germans; I got a German helmet. Our men had been eager all day to get amongst the enemy. It was hard fighting and terrible shelling went on. I was buried twice by a big shell which knocked the trench in.
“It was at Hooge where this occurred and it is stale now. I have not come across any Barnsley lads yet but Barnsley, we have done well. Now
cannot we do better? Of course we can. Why was our last battle like the times when Barnsley won the cup? Because it was a Hooge affair!” William was promoted to Colour Sergeant, with Thomas Arthur becoming a Lance Corporal for the 1st Northumberland Fusiliers. William’s army career lasted 46 years, after which he acted as a Freemason before passing away at 67 in Newcastle. Thomas was wounded twice and given the victory and war medals. With enlisting not compulsory before the Military Service Act of 1916, the British Army relied on the heavy influx of volunteer soldiers, with over one million men joining in the war’s first year. Schools and communities were swallowed up with some suffering grievous losses throughout the war.
Among the volunteers were Jane’s remaining four sons who were all keen to willingly serve, undertaking different roles.
Jane’s eldest son Albert joined the Kings
However, on the first day of the Somme, the pioneers and their adjoining battalions faced overwhelming German machine gun fire, with 80 percent of soldiers wounded or killed in the battle.
It is not known if he was wounded in the attack, but Albert was discharged in August 1918 after being wounded during his time in the pioneers. After returning to Stairfoot, he worked as a general public works labourer, possibly employed by the council to help with the town’s development after the war. The Lee brothers’ grandfather, Ferdinand
Watson, or Fred as he was known, was Jane’s seventh child. When the war broke out, he was a 25-year-old miner living in Stairfoot and married with three children.
He joined the 13th Battalion of the York and Lancaster Regiment – or the First Barnsley Pals – in October 1914 and remained on British turf as part of the home fleet. Following a three month medical respite,
Thomas Watson, died age 41
Medals and Death Penny
Own Yorkshire Light Infantry in the 12th Miners Pioneers division in 1914 aged 37. Because of his background as a coal
hewer, or digger, Albert’s role in the T’owd Twelfth would have been to assist another battalion with the construction of trenches. With a shovel and a pick each, the 12th were tasked with heavy manual work and engineering.
After training in Otley and Ripon, the 12th first landed in Egypt in December 1915 before being transferred to Serre in France to join the Western Front.
Fred was sent to France in early 1916 where he survived the bloody Somme, before returning home after two years. Whilst in the army’s command depot in Ripon, again on medical grounds, his fourth son died aged seven months from measles and pneumonia. After spending over four years in the Pals battalion, Fred was discharged and released with flat feet and varicose veins, plus impaired vision. He was given a silver war badge plus the King’s certificate, British War and Victory medals and went back to work down Barnsley Main and then Grimethorpe collieries where he worked for 53 years in total.
“He was registered partially blind which may have been caused during the war. People always used to joke that he’d survived the Somme but would end up getting run over walking all the way to Lundwood Club from Cundy Cross every day because he couldn’t see,” Maurice says. Fred and his wife Sarah Jane from Wombwell went on to have a total of ten children, with the
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