247011 Pte. Cuthbert Whalley British Army 8th Btn. Kings Own Royal Lancaster Regt from:Rampside, Barrow in Furness (d.12th May 1917) Cuthbert Whalley lost his life serving with the 8th Kings Own Royal Lancaster Regiment You have no known grave and are commemorated on the Arras Memorial. There is a marble plaque on the baptistery wall at St Michaels Church Rampside marking your life and death.
Tonight I came across a picture of you, the first time I have seen your face, such a strong face for your 20 years. Although you left long before I arrived I am so so very proud of you my very great uncle.
Before the war you worked in Vickers in Barrow as a cost clerk and left at 17 to enlist. I have tried for many years, since I learnt of your life, to understand what that war was like for you but I have discovered that even after being wounded 3 times and having the chance to see out the war as a Sergeant Instructor you refused, determined to return to the trenches. You were killed 2 days later. You refused promotion to stay with your Lewis gun team. You were a brave and intrepid soldier, cheerful even in the face of danger and you faced danger many times, always among the first to volunteer. The first to reach the parapet in front of the German trenches, you were hit by shrapnel as you mounted shouting "Come on the Lions" refusing help you started back to the British lines when you came across a comrade from Millom who was badly wounded and lying exposed. You tended him and then carried him back to British lines. Unfortunately he died from his wounds.
You fought at Flanders, the Somme, Ancre, being in at the taking of Trones Wood, Guillemont, Delville Wood and Thiepval.
You make me cry with pride and when I say I will never forget, I won't, your valour haunts me, how I wish I could have been half as brave in my lifetime as you were in your short 20 years.
You earned the Victory Medal
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