| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
2nd Lieutenant Philip Green, aged 27, was killed in action on 28 Mar 1918, three months after his brother, Lieutenant Frank Green, of the 5th Yorkshires, was killed at Passchendaele on 28 Dec 1917.
Philip was born in Beverley on 12 Feb 1891 and baptised on 18 Mar 1891 at Beverley Minster. He was one of four sons born to William and Martha Green. William was a printer, bookbinder and stationer whose business was located at 44 Saturday Market. He was also the proprietor of the Beverley Guardian newspaper. The family lived at the Old Grammar School House, 52 Keldgate. Philip attended Beverley Grammar School from 1901-03 and then went to Ripon Grammar School on a scholarship. It seems that he was involved in the family business: in the 1911 census, whilst lodging in London, he is described as a “clerk” at a “wholesale stationers”. He was unmarried.
In 1914 Philip joined the 1/1st East Riding Yeomanry, “B” Squadron, as a private/trooper, based at Beverley. They left the UK on 27 Oct 1915 for Salonika but were diverted to Egypt where they served with the Western Frontier Force undertaking desert patrols. On 26 Apr 1917 Philip was commissioned in the 1/4th Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment where he served as a 2nd Lieutenant. Having served in the 2nd Battle of Passchendaele in 1917, where he was “mentioned in dispatches”, the 1/4th were switched to the Somme in France. On 21 Mar 1918 the Germans launched a massive surprise attack to end the war before the arrival of American troops. The British retreated rapidly and at the Battle of Rosieres on the night of 27 March, Philip was killed in the vicinity of Harbonnieres in a desperate attempt to slow the German advance. His body was not recovered and he is remembered at the Pozieres Memorial to the Missing, France. He was awarded the 1914-15 Star and the War and Victory Medals.
Philip was described in the Beverley Guardian of 20 Apr 1918, by the East Yorkshires Chaplain, Reverend J Edwards, as someone who, “was loved by everyone who came into contact with him, especially his men, who always held him in the highest esteem on account of his abilities as an officer” and noted that “he was always cheerful so it was a joy to be in his presence.”
Philip and his brother, Frank, are remembered in Beverley Minster by a family brass plaque. He is also remembered on the Hengate War Memorial, the East Riding Memorial in Beverley Minster, the Beverley Grammar School Rolls of Honour and on the Keldgate Street Shrine.
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |