| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
Arthur was born in 1886 in Wandsworth, the son of George Albert Nye, a plasterer. Arthur was one of 9 children including a set of triplets. In 1901 the family was living in Fountain Street, Lambeth, an area defined as poor according to Charles Booth’s London Poverty Map. Arthur aged 14 was working as a “printing boy” but after George died in 1903, the family moved to Hackney and the 1911 Census shows Arthur working as a labourer.
Arthur enlisted with East Yorkshire Regiment at the Central Recruiting Office in Whitehall. His service number of 9792 suggests he joined up towards the end of 1911 and he would have found himself in India serving with 2nd East Yorkshire Regiment prior to being sent to France in Jan 1915.
Arthur’s Beverley connection comes from his marriage to Lavinia Simpson at St Nicholas Church on 23 May 1916 at which time he was a Corporal with 1st East Yorkshire Regiment. In Aug 1916 Lance Corporal A Nye was reported as wounded in the Hull Daily Mail’s Hull and District Casualty list. Arthur kept the same service number and remained with the East Yorkshire Regiment throughout the war despite moving from 2nd to 1st to 11th to 1/4 Battalion. It was reported in the Hull Daily Mail in Aug 1916 that Lance Corporal A Nye (Beverley) had been wounded but nothing further is known about Arthur until 10 Apr 1918 when he was killed in action at the time of the German spring offensive close to the Belgium/France border.
The Commonwealth War Graves Certificate records that Arthur was attached to 11th Battalion and he is remembered with honour at Ploegsteert Memorial to the Missing. However, his Medal Card suggests that although he was with the 11th Battalion at some time, his final posting was with 1/4 Battalion. As there are a number of 1/4 Battalion East Yorkshire men who also died on 10 Apr and who are remembered at Ploegsteert, it seems likely Arthur was amongst their number.
Arthur’s name can be found on the Memorial to the East Yorkshire Regiment in Beverley Minster. After the war Arthur’s widow Lavinia married Tom Thompson and the couple and their young son emigrated to Canada in 1923.
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |