Walter WRIGHT, PRIVATE 17014

Born: 1Q1896 at Haughton-le-Skerne
Son of: Robert Thompson Wright (d1909) and Mary Wright (d1896)
Local address: 6 Wolsingham Terrace, Darlington (1911)
Pre-war occupation: Fitter’s apprentice loco engine works
Father’s occupation: Farmer
Siblings: Four brothers, three sisters, one half-brother, one half-sister. Position in family: 8
Enlisted: Stockton-on-Tees
Regiment: 2nd Hampshire Regiment (transferred from 11th Reserve Cavalry Regiment)
Died: Killed in action Monday 23 April 1917
Age: 26
Commemorated: Arras Memorial, Faubourg d'Amiens British Cemetery, Arras
Commemorated after the war:
Family headstone in the churchyard of St Andrew’s Church, Haughton-le-Skerne

Walter Wright was born in 1896 in Haughton-le-Skerne, the son of Robert and Mary Wright. Robert Thompson Wright had married Mary Ann Eshelby in Darlington in 1885. When the 1891 census was taken in April that year, Robert and Mary lived in a cottage at the western end of Haughton-le-Skerne, not far from St Andrew’s Church. Robert Thompson Wright was described as a farmer aged 34, born at Blackbanks, Blackwell, near Darlington. The Wrights had been farmers in Haughton for much of the nineteenth century, and appear in the 1861, 1871 and 1881 censuses. Francis Wright, Robert Thompson Wright’s father, farmed 100 acres in the village. By 1891, Francis Wright had retired and Robert Thompson Wright farmed the land. Francis Wright aged 72, a widower, lived in the farm house whilst Robert Thompson Wright with his children lived in a cottage close by.

Robert’s wife Mary died in October 1896 aged 38 when Walter was only a few months old. In 1897 Robert married again, to Margaret Byers, the daughter of a shoemaker from Headlam. In 1901 Robert and his family lived at East Shaws, Westwick, close to the River Tees near Barnard Castle. Walter, aged five in 1901, did not live with his father and stepmother but lived with his aunt Isobel Webster and her husband John in Selbourne Terrace, near Greenbank Road, Darlington. There was another brother, Charles Eshelby Wright, who was born in 1891. Charles Eshelby Wright also died during the Great War - only six weeks after Walter - and his biography is recorded separately.

Robert and Margaret had two further children, a half brother and half sister for Walter and Charles Wright.

Robert Thompson Wright’s second wife Margaret died in 1907 and Robert Thompson Wright followed her in 1909 age 55. There is a headstone to Robert Thompson Wright and both of his wives in the churchyard of St Andrew’s Church, Haughton-le-Skerne. The headstone also has the names of their two sons Charles and Walter who were both killed in action in the late spring and summer of 1917.

In 1911, by then 15, Walter still lived with his uncle and aunt, John and Isabel Webster at 6 Wolsingham Terrace, Haughton Road, Darlington. John Webster was 40 and Isabel 50, with no children of their own. Presumably they brought up their nephew Walter as if he was their own child. Walter is recorded as being an engine fitter’s apprentice at the loco works. This could have been either at North Eastern Railway works or with Robert Stephenson and Company although his name was not one of those recorded on the Memorial Plaque at Robert Stephenson or on the North Eastern Railway Memorial at York.

Walter Wright’s service record does not exist but we know from Soldiers Who Died in the Great War that he joined 2nd Hampshire, a battalion of the Regular Army. In 1914 and into 1915 2/Hampshire remained in England but on 29 March 1915 sailed from Avonmouth for Gallipoli, going via Egypt. The ship arrived at Cape Helles on 25 April 1915. The battalion took part in the disastrous Gallipoli Campaign and in January 1916 was evacuated from Gallipoli to Suez, Egypt, arriving in Marseilles on 25 March 1916. Walter Wright’s Medal Index Card shows that he entered the Balkans Theatre of War on 24 August 1915 and was posthumously awarded the 1915 Star, which confirms that he was with 2/Hampshire during most of the Gallipoli Campagn.

29th Division suffered grievous losses during the campaign starting on the first day - 25 May - when the men fought their way ashore at Port Helles. Due to these heavy casualties the battalion had to be repeatedly brought back to strength by soldiers sent from England, and Walter Wright would have been one of those replacements. In the whole Gallipoli campaign 29th Division suffered 34,000 casualties. By the end of the war, total casualties of the division were 94,000, its members had won 27 Victoria Crosses, including 12 at Gallipoli and it had become known as the ‘Immortal 29th Division’.

The battalion remained in France throughout 1916 and into 1917, mainly on the Somme but also for a period of two months in the Ypres Salient. In April 1917 it was part of the British offensive force at the Battle of Arras. The Battle of Arras was the British Spring Offensive on the Western Front. From 9 April to 16 May 1917, British troops attacked German defences near the French city of Arras.There were major gains in the opening phase of the battle, including the spectacularly successful capture of Vimy Ridge by Canadian forces. Unfortunately the Battle of Arras then lost momentum and ended in stalemate, costing nearly 160,000 British and about 125,000 German casualties.

The Second Battle of the Scarpe was the fifth of eight phases of the Battle of Arras.

Walter Wright, having survived the Gallipoli Campaign and action on the Somme and at Ypres finally ran out of luck on 23 April 1917. 

The Battalion War Diary for 22 to 24 April reported:

"April 22nd. Relieved by the Worcester Regt. in front line and Coys went back to BROWN LINE S of FEUCHY chapel. Battn Hd Qrs remained at cave near FOSSE farm. Enemy shelling fairly heavy. At 3pm CO (Lieutenant-Colonel Beckwith DSO) got orders assume Command of 88th Brigade - vice Gen Cayley suffering from gas. It was about 7pm before Divisional cable was laid into dug out 300x W of LE BERGERE farm. Command of the Battn was handed over to Lieutenant-Colonel McCannon. At 2am Worcesters formed for attack in the trenches along E side of MONCHY ROAD, HAMPSHIRES just behind. Heavy shelling by enemy caused about 19 casualties in ‘Y’ and other Coys before our barrage started. CSM Toogood and Sgt Smith were killed. Owing to barrage of 15th Division on our right, being echelonned back, the Battn got machine gun fire when crossing sunken road and had many casualties. Owing to confusion some of ‘X’, ‘Y’ and ‘Z’ Coys went on into Worcester Line near COPSE 600x W of BOIS DU VERT.’W’ Coy got into PICK TRENCH and after 2 hours bombing along STRING TRENCH captured 52 germans in STRING TRENCH. ‘X’ Coy was in SHRAPNEL TRENCH between BORDERS and INISKILLIENS. At 4pm the enemy counter attacked SE of COPSE and drove back our right.Battn was relieved at night by the 86th Brigade….
April 23rd (contd)….but ‘W’ Coy was not relieved till next night.

Casualties ORs 13 killed. 193 Wded – 67 missing
Lieut A E Halcrow and Lieut A G E Todd killed.
Lieut HC Saunders MC, Lieut H H M Fawcett 2/Lieutenants J S Worracott, W A Mc Avoy, G H James, J M Tyler, G R Hughes, P Swann, J W Watts, F Yates, Lieutenant-Colonel McCannon Wded. (Lieutenant-Colonel McCannon died of wounds 28/4/17).
Capt N C Robertson, Capt P A Cornish MC, 2/Lieutenants J B Simonds and L Snyder missing.

April 24th. Battn bussed to SIMANCOURT, billeted in hut."

In the space of two days, 2/Hampshire suffered casualties of one quarter of its other ranks strength and half of its officers. Walter Wright was one of the 13 ORs killed. He was 21 and having fought at Gallipoli was already a veteran. Walter Wright has no known grave and is commemorated on the Arras Memorial. There are many more than 13 names of the 2/Hampshires listed on the Arras Memorial as having died on 23 April, so it can only be assumed that many of the dead were those reported as wounded or missing in the Battalion War Diary and many of the wounded subsequently and were given this date as the official date of death.

The Arras Memorial commemorates nearly 35,000 soldiers of the British, South African and New Zealand forces with no known grave. Most of those commemorated were killed in the Battle of Arras, fought between 9 April and 16 May 1917.

Private Walter Wright is commemorated on the Wright family headstone in the churchyard of St Andrew’s Church, Haughton-le-Skerne. It is the only known memorial to him in Darlington and area.

The inscription on the headstone reads:

IN AFFECTIONATE REMEMBRANCE
OF
MARY
THE DEARLY BELOVED WIFE OF
ROBERT THOMPSON WRIGHT
WHO DIED AT HAUGHTON-LE-SKERNE
OCTOBER 24 1896,
AGED 38 YEARS.
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN.

ALSO ROBERT THOMPSON WRIGHT
WHO DIED AUGUST 25 1909
AGED 55 YEARS.

ALSO THEIR SON
PTE CHARLES ESHELBY WRIGHT
KILLED IN ACTION JULY 8 1917
AGED 26 YEARS.

ALSO THEIR SON
PTE WALTER WRIGHT
KILLED IN ACTION APRIL 23 1917
AGED 21 YEARS.

ALSO MARGARET, WIFE OF
ROBERT THOMPSON WRIGHT
WHO DIED APRIL 28 1907
AGED 36 YEARS.