| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
Leonard Hallam was born at Horsforth near Leeds on 14 Oct 1881, the eldest of three children born to Moses Hallam and his wife Eva. Leonard became a law clerk and moved to Beverley to work for East Riding County Council, County Hall. In 1905 he was recorded as living at Eastbourne Villas, Grovehill Road and he later lived at 1 St John Street. On Boxing Day 1905 he married Emma Hoyle, born in 1883, originally from Wakefield, and a cooking teacher, at Sowerby Bridge. They had two children- Philip, born Jul 1914, and Dennis, born Apr 1920. Both would enter the legal profession like their father. Leonard was active at Beverley Minster where he was a solo tenor. He was also a member of the Freemasons Lodge.
He enlisted as a private on 16 Nov 1914 in The King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (KOYLI). He was rapidly promoted to Corporal, Sergeant, Colour Sergeant and by Aug 1915 was Regimental Quartermaster Sergeant, the highest NCO rank. He was then commissioned. In 1916 he was a 2nd Lieutenant and eventually became a Captain. He arrived in France in early Dec 1917 and later joined the York and Lancaster Regiment. He was awarded the War and Victory Medals.
Leonard returned to Beverley but by 1924 had moved to the Barnsley area, working in the mining industry. In the 1939 Register he is recorded as being a “colliery estate agent”. He later moved, to Filey where he died aged 91, on 26 May 1973. His wife Emma died in 1944.
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |