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Richard Campey (usually referred to as Frank) was seriously injured on the Somme on 14 Jul 1916 and subsequently discharged from the army on 23 May 1917 and awarded the Silver Star.
Richard was born in Beverley in Apr 1895 and lived at 11Well Lane. His father, Richard Campey, 1857-1926, was a cowkeeper and milk supplier. His mother was Mary Jane, they had four sons, Mary died in Oct 1901. Richard senior remarried to Annie, who was born in Leeds and they had a daughter, Gladys, born in 1906. Frank was the youngest son. His brother Walter was born in 1885, Harold in 1887 and Arthur in 1893. Frank was employed in 1911 as an apprentice joiner. Walter was a regular soldier in the 7th Dragoon Guards and served in India and on the Western Front.
Frank enlisted on 12 Dec 1915 and was a private in the 8th Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment, part of 8th Division. The Battalion spent spring 1916 in the vicinity of Ypres and then joined 8th Division Reserves. They were then assigned to the Somme where in the early days of the Battle were involved in carrying duties and reconnaissance missions. On 14 Jul 1916 they were in the left side of the frontline in the action to capture the villages of Longueval and Bazentin-le-Grand. At 3.20am the attack began with an intense artillery bombardment of German lines and at 3.25am the British troops went over the top. The Battalion war diary notes that the barbed wire in no-man's land had remained largely uncut, that the East Yorkshires got held up and open to German machine gunning and artillery and had to withdraw. Two platoons managed to get through the wire but were not seen again. In total the 8th Battalion lost 8 officers killed and 11 wounded; 81 Ordinary Ranks killed, 218 wounded and 141 missing. Frank's role in the attack is not known but he was among those wounded.
After his discharge Frank married Lottie Mercer from Howden in Beverley in 1920, she died in 1925. In late 1929 he married Charlotte Bowers who died in 1961. Frank died in Newcastle on 18 Dec 1965 and his probate documents indicate that he was a retired corporation estate manager.
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |