| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
Arthur James Burras Tanfield was born in Beverley the 20 Sep 1892, the son of John Walter Tanfield, a Beverley-born Mechanical Engineer, and Eliza (nee Burras), daughter of Thomas Ellis Burras, Headmaster of Beverley Minster Boys’ School. John and his brother James (Tanfield Bros.) were in business as cycle agents and repairers in Grovehill Road, Beverley. By 1911 John and family had moved to London, where Arthur, aged 18, was an Engineering Student, his name appears in the University of London OTC ‘Roll of War Service’ following the war.
Arthur served with the 9th (Service) Battalion of the Northumberland Fusiliers as a Temporary Second Lieutenant from Oct 1914, he was promoted to Temporary Captain from Apr 1916. Arthur was injured in Jan 1917 and again in Oct 1917 when he also suffered the effects of being gassed. The 9th Battalion embarked to France in July 1915 to the Ypres salient; in 1916 they saw action at the Battle of Albert and Delville Wood on the Somme; in 1917 they took part in the Arras Offensive and in Aug transferred to 103rd Brigade, 34th Division, seeing action at Broenbeek in the Third Battles of Ypres.
Arthur was awarded the British War and Victory Medals and the 15 Star.
In 1915 he married Nellie Potten, they had three sons, David, Theo and John. Arthur, a mechanical engineer and family lived in Newcastle upon Tyne area until his death. In 1939 Nellie along with John, aged 8, was living in Morpeth where she was as an ‘Evacuation Helper’. Arthur was living alone in the family home, listed as ‘engineer (professional) mechanical’, he was also a Reserve Officer, Captain in the Territorial Army, a position he held throughout the Second World War, until 1948 when he “relinquished his commission” having exceeded the age limit. He retained the rank of Captain. Arthur died in Newcastle upon Tyne in Sep 1966. Nellie died in 1968
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |