| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
Arthur Oxtoby was born in March 1884. He signed up for military service in 1902 in Beverley. He had a fresh complexion, brown eyes and dark brown hair. His religion was Church of England and had no distinctive marks on his face. Arthur married Theresa Robson at the Beverley Registry Office on 24 Dec 1906. They had six children, Harry, Nevil, Ruby, Arthur, Lucy and Dorothy
Arthur had various jobs, at the age of 15 he was an errand boy. When he joined the military in 1902 he was working as a tanner's labourer in Flemingate. Upon leaving the military he became a caretaker at Marble Arch Cinema in Beverley
Arthur was a private in the 1st East Yorkshire Regiment and was awarded the 14 Star and the Victory medal. Arthur's record states that he was wounded in the foot by shrapnel but this wasn't the cause for his discharge. Around the same time he began to experience pains in his right shoulder and left knee. It was discovered that this was osteoarthritis and it was being aggravated by war conditions. Arthur was medically discharged as unfit for duty. He applied for a pension to support his family and was successful.
His life ended tragically in 1916 when he went missing on Boxing Day along with a colleague from the Marble Arch Cinema where he worked. His colleague was nineteen year old Lillie Edwards. Lillie was the daughter of a local butcher Charles Walter Edwards. The newspaper reported it as a love tragedy. The bodies of both of them were found two weeks later in Barmston Drain, Clough Road. With their bodies where suicide notes telling their families not to grieve. A verdict of double suicide was recorded by the coroner.
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |