250082 Lt. Leonard Edwin Cutts British Army 256th Tunnelling Coy. Royal Engineers from:Blackwell, Derbyshire (d.11th October 1918) Leonard Cutts was born in Hoyland, Yorkshire in October 1887 to Joseph William Cutts and Esther Ann nee Carnelley. The family had moved to 64 Blackwell Colliery Rows between 1897 and 1900. Joseph was Colliery Manager. Leonard followed the trade and by 1911 was a Deputy at the colliery. Joseph died in 1913 aged 46 years.
In the 3rd quarter of 1918 Leonard married Winifred Mary Brown of Coningsby, Lincolnshire, just weeks before he died in France on 11th October. In 1911 Winifred had been training at Lincoln as an Elementary School Teacher, and after losing her husband she never remarried and passed away in 1957.
Leonard was a 2nd Lieutenant, promoted to Lieutenant with the Royal Engineers 256th Tunnelling Coy., when he died on 11th of October 1918 of pneumonia. For obvious reasons the Tunnelling Corps took many miners and Leonard's background as a Deputy with engineering and explosives experience would have been highly valued. The role of the TC was to tunnel to plant and detonate explosives under the German lines.
Leonard's name is commemorated on the Parish Church Memorial Plaque at Blackwell, but is not listed in the Blackwell Colliery Co's album "Lest We Forget", so may have been employed elsewhere. Leonard is also commemorated on the Roll of Honour at Chesterfield Grammar School.
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