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4th Battalion, Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry
4th Battalion, Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry were a unit of the Territorial Force with their HQ in Wakefield. They were made up of A (Wakefield) Coy, B (Wakefield) Coy, C (Normanton) Coy, D (Ossett) Coy whose Drill Hall, on the corner of Station Road and Fairfield Terrace is today used by the Ossett Gun Club, E (Dewsbury) Coy, F (Dewsbury) Coy, G (Batley) Coy whose Drill Hall later became The Yorkshire Fire Museum. H (Morley) Coy who were based at The Drill Hall, Ackroyd Street, Morley. They were part of the 3rd West Riding Infantry Brigade, West Riding Division. When war broke out in August 1914, the units of the Division had just departed for their annual summer camp, they were at once recalled to their home base and mobilised at once for war service, moving to Doncaster. In November they moved to Gainsborough and in February 1915 to York to prepare for service overseas, those men who had not volunteered for Imperial Service transferred tp the newly formed 2/4th Battalion. They proceeded to France, from Folkestone landing at Boulogne on the 12th of April 1915 and the Division concentrated in the area around Estaires. On the 15th of May the formation was renamed 148th Brigade, 49th (West Riding) Division. Their first action was in the The Battle of Aubers Ridge in May 1915. In 1916 They were in action in the Battles of the Somme. In 1917 they were involved in the Operations on the Flanders Coast and the The Battle of Poelcapelle during the Third Battle of Ypres. In 1918 they were in action during the Battles of the Lys, The pursuit to the Selle and the Final Advance in Picardy. At the Armistice 49th Division was resting at Douai, demobilisation began in early 1919.
5th of May 1915 Northumbrians re-join Division
17th of May 1915 Under Cavalry Corps Command
18th of May 1915 Battalion placements
18th of May 1915 Appreciation
16th Oct 1915 The Derby Scheme
1st Dec 1915 Derby Scheme Armlets
11th Sep 1915 Last day of Derby Scheme Recruitment
10th Jan 1916 Group System Reopens
9th February 1916 Call Ups
1st July 1916 Terrible Losses 
15th of September 1916 Attack Made
18th of September 1916
16th Mar 1917 Trench Raid
19th Mar 1917 Trench Raid
21st Mar 1917 Occasional Shells
22nd Mar 1917 Trench Raid
23rd Mar 1917 Trench Mortars
4th June 1917 Entertainment
14th June 1917 Horse Show
1st Nov 1917 Inspection
2nd Nov 1917 Training
3rd Nov 1917 Orders
4th Nov 1917 Orders
5th Nov 1917 Demonstration
6th Nov 1917 Orders
7th Nov 1917 Orders
9th Nov 1917 Reliefs
11th Nov 1917 Reliefs
12th Nov 1917 Reliefs
24th Nov 1917 Shelling
25th Nov 1917 Shelling
27th Nov 1917 Reliefs
29th Nov 1917 Reliefs
1st Mar 1918 Raid
2nd Mar 1918 Prisoners Taken
3rd Mar 1918 Raid
4th Mar 1918 Quiet
5th Mar 1918 Patrol
6th Mar 1918 Shelling
7th Mar 1918 Information
8th Mar 1918 Artillery Active
9th Mar 1918 Counter Attack
10th Mar 1918 Quiet
11th Mar 1918 Trench Raid
12th Mar 1918 Balloon
13th Mar 1918 Trench Raid
14th Mar 1918 Shellfire
15th Mar 1918 Artillery Active
16th Mar 1918 Artillery Active
17th Mar 1918 Raid
18th Mar 1918 Shelling
19th Mar 1918 Quieter
20th Mar 1918 Shelling
21st Mar 1918 Gas
22nd Mar 1918 Enemy Quieter
23rd Mar 1918 Enemy Quieter
24th Mar 1918 Prisoners
25th Mar 1918 Raids
26th Mar 1918 Orders
27th Mar 1918 Reliefs
28th Mar 1918 Quiet
29th Mar 1918 Quiet
30th Mar 1918 Reliefs
31st Mar 1918 Quiet
1st Apr 1918 Reliefs
1st Apr 1918 Reliefs
2nd Apr 1918 Intermittent Shelling
3rd Apr 1918 Reliefs
4th Apr 1918 Quiet
5th Apr 1918 Reliefs
6th Apr 1918 Reliefs
7th Apr 1918 Raid
8th Apr 1918 Prisoners
9th Apr 1918 Orders
10th Apr 1918 Attack Made
11th Apr 1918 Rearguard Action
12th of April 1918 Enemy Advances
12th Apr 1918 Line Holding
13th of April 1918 Under Heavy Attack
13th Apr 1918 Line Holding
14th of April 1918 A Counter-Attack
14th Apr 1918 Attack Made
15th Apr 1918 Attacks Made
16th Apr 1918 Attacks Made
17th Apr 1918 Attacks Made
18th Apr 1918 Attacks Made
19th Apr 1918 Snow
19th Apr 1918 Reliefs
If you can provide any additional information, please add it here.
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These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Great War.
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Those known to have served with4th Battalion, Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry during the Great War 1914-1918. - Adamson Frederick Varley. Pte (d.4th Nov 1918)
- Ainley George. Pte. (d.30th Jul 1918)
- Bateman Frank. Pte. (d.10th Sep 1918)
- Beresford James Gilbert. Pte (d.30th Mar 1918)
- Blackburn R. Pte.
- Bradley MM. Arthur. 2Lt. (d.24th August 1917)
- Bransom Alfred Samuel. Pte. (d.28th March 1918)
- Burton Charles. L/Cpl. (d.14th April 1918)
- Chamberlain Francis. Sgt. (d.9th Oct 1917)
- Gourley Thomas. Pte. (d.20th Oct 1917)
- Greenwood John . Pte.
- Haigh Arthur. Cpl. (d.27th July 1918)
- Haigh Arthur. Cpl. (d.27th July 1918)
- Lowe Joseph. Pte. (d.7th Jul 1916)
- Nicholson William. Cpl. (d.31st July 1917)
- Rickell Herbert. Pte. (d.3rd Oct 1918)
- Rose MM Edward. Pte.
- Rose M.M. Edward. Pte.
- Scott Milnes. Pte. (d.12th March 1917)
- Smiles Edward William. Pte. (d.9th Oct 1917)
- Wood Sydney Lancelot. Pte.
- Wrigley George Hallas. (d.20th Oct 1917)
All names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed,
please Add a Name to this List
Records of 4th Battalion, Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry from other sources.
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Cpl. William Nicholson 1/4th Btn. Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (d.31st July 1917) Uncle William was my grandmother's brother. He was gassed around 21st to 23rd of July 1917 and was shipped back to Liverpool. He died of his injuries on the 31st of July 1917. I wear his medals every Anzac Day & Remembrance Day in Australia. I have an image of his headstone in Warmfield and am seeking a service photo of him. My great grandfather also served in WW1 Pte 291 John Tottie.
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Pte James Gilbert Beresford 2nd Btn 1/5th Btn 2/4th Btn King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (d.30th Mar 1918) Died of wounds.
He was in the 1/5th Yorks L.I, 2/4th Yorks L.I and 2nd Yorks L.I.
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Pte. Joseph Lowe 4th Btn. Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (d.7th Jul 1916) Joseph Lowe served with 4th King's Own Yorkshire Light InfantryJoseph had an older brother, William Lowe, who was also in the K.O.Y.L.I and lived at 69 Bloeinjoulein Street, Cudworth, Yorks. William served more than 3yrs during WW1, being unfit for further active service after the loss of his left hand during combat operations. He died April 1926. Living at Carlton Street, South Kirkby where he resided with his wife and family.Cemetery. William was also a Private and I think in same Battalion, 4th.
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Pte. Herbert Rickell 2nd Btn. King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (d.3rd Oct 1918) Herbert Rickell is buried in Ramicourt Cemetery.
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2Lt. Arthur Bradley MM. 6th Btn. Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (d.24th August 1917) Arthur Bradley was a pre-war Territorial. From his address, and the 1917 6-digit number, he was most likely in 1/4th Battalion. His Medal Index Card shows he disembarked in France 13th of April 1915, so was with 148th Brigade. He was a Lance Corporal, but was soon promoted to Sergeant. He was awarded the Military Medal in 1916. He was recommended for a commission, to which he was discharged 29th of June 1917. He was posted to 6th Battalion, KOYLI and was killed in action at the Menin Road 24th of August 1917.
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L/Cpl. Charles Burton 1/4th Btn. King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (d.14th April 1918) Charles Burton was born in Huddersfield and at the time of his death his wife, Mary Sarah nee Chadburn and infant daughter Alice lived in Pontefract.
He served in the 1st/4th Battalion of the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. They were part of 148th Brigade which were themselves part of the 49th (West Riding) Division from May 1915.
The Division fought through the Somme and Passchendaele into 1918 and Charles was killed in action on the 14th April 1918 during the many battles near Ypres. His name is remembered on the Tyne Cot Memorial.
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Pte. Sydney Lancelot Wood 2/4th Btn., H Coy. King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry  This information was sourced from the Red Cross website of POWs, CWG Commission and military documents that I own.
Sydney Wood served with the Colours
from the 26th June 1908 to 3rd August 1914 (6 years 2 months). He was in South Africa from the 1st January 1909 to 1st December 1910 (1 year 11 months).
In Hong Kongm 2nd December 1910 to 17th January 1913 (2 years 1 month) then in Singapore 22nd January 1913 to 14th January 1915 (2 years).
During War
he served with the Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry
from 4th August 1914 to 23rd March 1919 (4 years 8 months)
when he became Army Reserve Class B. He reenlisted on the 24th of March 1919 and served until 5th February 1920 (10 months)
He served in France from 15th January 1915 to 24th October 1915 (9 months)
in Egypt from 25th October 1915 to 30th November 1915 (1 month)
then in Salonica from 1st December 1915 to 18th August 1917 (1 year 9 months)
He returned to France on the 15th of March 1918. He was taken POW on the 27th March 1918 and held until to 30th November 1918 (8 months)
His POW card reads: A55516 Wood S. Pte 9757. KOYLI Missing 27th March 1918 France.
Rep. Mrs A Wood (mother) 34 Wodehouse St, Norwich, Norfolk, England
According to a letter send to the family dated 28th June 1918, he is a prisoner in Germany. PH 40751 15 November 1918 Wood Sidney 9757 Pte 2/4th KOYLI H Coy born 14th March 1888, Norwich taken 27th March 1918 Sommecourt, unwounded. Transferred from Parchim POW camp to Freidrichsfeld POW camp.
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Cpl. Arthur Haigh 2nd/4th Btn. King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (d.27th July 1918) Cpl Arthur Haigh died of wounds received in action in France. He is remembered with honour in the Marfeux British Cemetery at Marne, France in plot III-H-8.
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Pte. Edward Rose M.M. 1/4th Btn. Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry Edward Rose was my Great Uncle. He was awarded the M.M. and was Gazetted on the 5th January,1917, for an action on the 22nd of October 1916, with the 1/4th Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry at Hebuterne, where he was a Lewis Gunner. This was on the Somme. He also received The British War Medal and The Victory Medal. He served four years with the 49th West Riding Division Territorial Force before going to war aged 20 on the 1st of March,1915. He was born on 29th September 1894, at Crofton, near Wakefield, and died aged 31, on 6th of December 1925 in Wakefield Asylum (now Pinderfields Hospital) of Shellshock and Post Traumatic Trauma. A sad end to a very brave man.
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Pte. R Blackburn 1/4th Btn King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry I am currently in possession of this gentleman's war medal 1914-1918 and could find no records on him: Pte R Blackburn of the 4th KOYLI. Now he has a start.
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Pte. Frank Bateman 1/4th Btn. Yorks & Lancs Regiment (d.10th Sep 1918) Frank Bateman was executed for desertion 10/09/1918 age 28 and buried in Villers Station Cemetery, Villers-au-Bois, France. He as the son of Mr. C. Bateman, of 3 Kilton St., Sheffield
Julian Putkowski and Julian Sykes in their book "Shot at Dawn state that Frank was initially posted to 1/4 King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (49 West Riding Division) at the end of June 1915. The Battalion served at Ypres in the Autumn of 1915 and then transferred to the Somme in 1916. Frank was wounded in the summer of that year and after recovery was posted to 1/5 Battalion. He first deserted in 1917 and received a sentence of one year’s imprisonment that was suspended. Later that year he was returned to England with this time a self inflicted wound.
Returning to his original Battalion in 1918 (1/4 King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry) he deserted again and received a fifteen year sentence again suspended. In June 1918 he went missing yet again and received the death sentence at the subsequent court martial. The sentence was carried out on 10th September 1918. Frank was the sixth and final soldier from Sheffield to be executed. It was of course just two months from the end of the war.
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Pte. George Ainley 1st/4th Btn. Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (d.30th Jul 1918) George Ainley was executed for desertion on 30th July 1918 , aged 20 and is buried in Hagle Dump cemetery, Belgium.
He was the son of George and Alice Mary Ainley, of 82, Randall St., Sheffield, Yorks.
Private Ainley had been tried on 28th January 1918 for a self inflicted wound but before the end of the Summer of 1918 he had deserted three times. The Courts Martial was apparently on the 13th July and was for the three offences of desertion. The Commanding Officer of the Battalion submitted a report for the Court; 'Private Ainley appears to be lacking a sense of responsibility, and his military character in consequence is not good.' He was executed on the 30th July 1918 when he was 20 years of age, almost certainly a conscript originally from Sheffield.
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Pte. Thomas Gourley 4th Battalion King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (d.20th Oct 1917) Thomas Gourley was serving with the 4th Battalion King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, when he died on 20th October 1917, he was 29 years old and had enlisted with the Northumberland Fusiliers in Sunderland. He was the husband of Laura Gourley (nee Watson). On the 1911 census, Thomas Gourley age 23 Coal Miner Stoneman is listed as with his wife Laura Gourley and child at 14 Morgan Street, Sunderland.
Thomas is buried in Tyne Cot Cemetery and is commemorated on the Palmer Cenotaph (west face) Jarrow.
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Sgt. Francis Chamberlain 1st/4th Btn. Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (d.9th Oct 1917) My Great Uncle, Francis Chamberlain was born in Nottingham in about 1896 and served in the 1st/4th Battalion of the Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. He died in 'France and Flanders' on the 9th October 1917. There is a memorial to him on the Tyne Cot Memorial so I therefore assume that he does not have a grave. I would like to find out more information about the battle in which he died.
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Pte. Edward William Smiles 21st Batallion Northumberland Fusiliers (d.9th Oct 1917)  My maternal grandfather, Edward William Smiles, was born in Lyon Street Hetton le Hole on 13 May 1886. His parents were James Smiles, a coal miner, and Elizabeth Smiles née Cunningham. Though most of the men in his family were miners, he bacame a shop assistant at the Co-op. On 22 June 1910, Edward married Mary Jane Hutchinson in Houghton le Spring, and they moved to a house in South Market Street, Hetton. They had two daughters, Elsie May and Doris, my mother. He then died in the war. My grandmother Mary Smiles never liked to talk about him, merely saying that he was "lost in the war." She fell out with his younger brother Jim who shared a house with her at some stage, so we lost touch with the Smiles family. Then when she died we found a card notifying her that Edward William Smiles was killed on 9th October 1917 in "France and Flanders" and giving his unit and number as 203487, King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. We later found he had joined the Northumberland Fusiliers, 21st Battalion (2nd Tyneside Scottish) with number 21/1517. This means he probably saw action on 1st July 1916 at the Somme, and was transferred to the K.O.Y.L.I. later. It seems his war service records were among those destroyed by a bomb in the second world war. The Light Infantry Office kindly sent a photocopy of the battalion war diary for the day he died: as part of 148th Brigade, 49th (West Riding) Division, they attacked over the swollen Ravebeek stream near Gravenstafel just south-west of Passchendaele. They were repulsed by heavy German machine gun fire. The action is notable in regimental history because both Lt.Colonel H Moorhouse and his son Captain R W Moorhouse died within minutes of each other. Neither they (apparently) nor my grandfather were identified after the battle; they are commemorated on the Tyne Cott memorial. Now I always buy a poppy; but my grandmother never would.
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Pte. John Greenwood 4th Btn. Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry My father enlisted Leeds on 21st Sept 1916, serving first with 4th King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry and posted to Queen's Own Yorkshire Dragoons (I was told they had no horses so were issued with cycles). Chevrons One B; wound stripe one. He served in France was wounded in action, and received an honourable discharge on 20th December 1918. Discharge Certificate army form B2079, No.2 Infantry records Yorks (serial number 2841). Discharge certificate bears serial number 3748YLI, being no longer physically fit for war service.
He had served 1 year 299 days with the colours and 157 days in army reserve (does the latter indicate the time in hospital care?) Para 392 (XV1) KR.
The name of my parents' house was Neuf Eglise which might signify the area in France where he was wounded.
I was never given details of my father's war service when I was younger but now as I near 80 years of age I have studied the Discharge Certificate and scrap of paper attached to it and would like to know the following. I feel perhaps the Regimental War Diaries will give the places to which the Unit was moved.
When did the Unit go to France?
The Movement of the Unit thereafter and the actions in which they were involved. Would my Father's Unit be involved in action on a certain date in or near Neuf Eglise?
Is there a record of exactly where he was wounded and his movements thereafter. I believe he was eventually in a
hospital at Burton Agnes on the east coast of Yorkshire.
My understanding from Carlisle Military Museum is that Neuf Eglise was a much fought over area in 1914/18. Any information you can give me would be most welcome.
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Pte Frederick Varley Adamson 2nd/4th Btn, "A" Coy Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (d.4th Nov 1918) Adamson, Frederick, Varley. Private,63882, Killed in action on 4th November 1918. Aged 20 years.
Remembered on the Vis-En-Artois Memorial, Pas de Calais, Panel 8.
Son of Henry Varley Adamson and Martha Ann Adamson, of Garden Cottage Allotment, Shiremoor, Northumberland.
Was originally in the 19th Btn Northumberland Fusiliers with service number 19/1844, Transferred to the 2nd/4th Btn of K.O.Y.L.I. "A" Coy, where he had service Number 63882.
From the 19th Btn Northumberland Fusiliers Roll of Honour.
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