| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
Bernard was born in Beverley in the spring of 1892, one of six children born to John Simpson (1859-1917) and his wife Elizabeth (1858-1920). John was originally from Carlisle; his wife was born in Birr, King’s County [Offaly], Ireland and was a widow with two children when she married John in Beverley in 1884. One of her sons was born in Aldershot so she may have been in a military family. Bernard was brought up on Eastgate and Well Gardens in Beverley before the family moved to Burton Terrace on Chantry Lane and then onto Taylor’s Row on Beckside. Like his father, Bernard became a tanner’s labourer but by the time of WWI he was employed as a carter. He was unmarried.
On 28 Aug 1914 Bernard volunteered for the army in Beverley, specifically to serve as a driver in the Royal Field Artillery, and had his medical the same day at Beverley military hospital. However, on 29 Oct 1914 he was discharged from the army having been considered “unlikely to be a suitable soldier”. Whether this decision was taken on medical or disciplinary grounds is not known. He reenlisted for a second time and this time joined an infantry regiment as a private, in the 1st battalion of the West Yorkshires. He arrived with them in France on 9 Dec 1915. The 1st, part of 6th Division, went into action at the Somme in 1916 in the fighting on the Transloy Ridges. On 12 Oct 1916 they attacked German trenches north of the Transloy Road and received heavy casualties. On this day Bernard was killed in action. His body was never recovered and he is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing. He was awarded the War and Victory Medals and the 1915 Star. He is commemorated on the Hengate Memorial in Beverley but not on the East Yorkshire Memorial in the Minster.
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