| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
Stanley Clyde Dukes was born in Beverley 29 Feb 1896, the son of Robert and Fanny Dukes, who married at Beverley Minster in 1883. Stanley was one of three children, his sister Ada Eliza, died aged twelve in 1896 whilst brother Tom Davison Dukes was born in 1901. The family home was in Keldgate. Robert Dukes worked at a local whiting works and Stanley also started work, described in the 1911 census as a “lime burner”. Before joining the army, however, Stanley was an apprentice bricklayer at G and F Stephenson Builders on Minstermoorgate.
Stanley served as a private in the 1/4th Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment and and probably served on the Somme in the second half of 1916. The Battalion were then involved in the Battle of Arras in Apr 1917 and it was on the opening day of the 2nd Battle of the Scarpe on 23 Apr 1917 that Stanley was taken prisoner.
Stanley was incarcerated at the Schneidemuhl POW Camp, 3 miles from the city of Stettin on the Baltic Coast (now part of Poland). The camp held 40,000-60,000 men that were allocated to smaller workcamps in the vicinity. Conditions were tough with food especially short by 1918. Stanley returned to Beverley in Dec 1918 and was awarded the War and Victory Medals.
Stanley married in Hull in 1926 to Kathleen Hardie, born in Beverley in 1908, of Flemingate, daughter of a hide worker at the local tannery. Their daughter, Mollie was born in Hull in Mar 1926; Stanley junior was born in 1929 in Halifax. Kathleen died in 1934 and the following year Stanley married Lily Rowley of Ashton-under-Lyme, born in 1914. They did not have any children. He died in Bolton on 12 Apr 1981.
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |