| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
Walter Welburn joined the army on 21 Aug 1914, after basic training, he arrived in France on 18 Apr 1915 and was immediately thrust into the 2nd Battle of Ypres. He spent the next three years fighting on the Somme in 1916, Passchendaele in 1917 and the retreats and offensives of 1918. He was seriously wounded in Jun 1918. The Beverley Guardian of 15 Jun 1918 noted that he had been evacuated to hospital in Paisley, Scotland with an unspecified injury; it was sufficiently serious for him to be discharged from the military on 29 Oct 1918. He earned the Silver War Badge as a result and also received the 1914-15 Star and the War and Victory Medals.
Walter was born in Beverley the 30 Apr 1896, the son of William Henry Welburn and Emily (nee Mitchell). William was the caretaker at Beverley High School, Norwood and the family lived on site. Walter attended the Spencer Street School, Beverley and on leaving he became an apprentice grocer. He was also a member of the Church Lads Brigade.
Walter resumed his commercial career, eventually having a grocery business at 17 North Bar Within, "Welburn and Glentons". He was described in the 1939 as a "master grocer". He served as a councillor for Beverley Corporation. In 1928 he married Ivy D J Lightowler of 22 Keldgate, whose father was a bricklayer. They lived at 94 Lairgate. Walter died in Hull in Dec 1979, Ivy died in 1963.
He is remembered on the Norwood Street Shrine.
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |