On Remembrance Day, it is fitting to recall here the loss of one of the Parlington Estate workers in March 1918. The details were uncovered during my Parlington Research by a fellow historian. His loss acts as a reminder of the many, so many, lost in battles, none more futile than those scythed away in the First World War. Always termed the Great War until it was deposed by the events of 1939-1945.
I read recently that at the beginning of 1918 the British Army was short by some 80,000 men of the full strength it was believed necessary by the Generals. We cannot imagine, well I can’t, how the lives were so easily squandered. Many consider the First World War changed the country so much it has never been the same since, the Second World War merely cemented that condition. Interestingly the present British Army is to be reduced in strength to around 82,000 in total, so in the early part of 1918 our Generals were contemplating that we were short of the equivalence of our entire modern army!
Private Lance Corporal George Garbutt
Born Bradford 1881 ~ Killed in action 18th of March 1918
At the outbreak of the First World War George Garbutt was working as an estate mason at Parlington Hall, Aberford, he was living with his parents, George (also an estate mason) and Louisa at Hook Moor Lodge, this was part of the estate and family seat of the Gascoigne family of Parlington Hall, he joined the Pals at Colsterdale and having served with them for a few months was transferred to the Royal Engineers serving with “D” Special Company Royal Engineers, this was one of the very secret front line poison gas units, he continued to serve with them until almost the end of the war but sadly was killed in action in March 1918.
He his buried in Vieille-Chapelle Cemetery, Lacouture, France. However he is remembered in Aberford with an inscription on the gravestone of his parents, here:
Hook Moor Lodge (North)
About the Photos
I chose the header picture I took of the poppies in the fields by the Barwick road, as the sky seems to represent the transience of human life, with the whispery cloud formation, it suggests to me the vanishing spirits of our lost ancestors, my father a veteran of six years in the second world war, amongst them! Not that he was killed in the war, although he did have some near misses, but he died a long time ago in 1974 still fairly young, and I often think of him especially on Remembrance Day.
The Hook Moor Lodge is the northerly of the pair, I don’t know which George Garbutt resided in but whichever they are roughly the same, except opposite hand, although both look to have been altered from their original form. They are attributed to the famous Yorkshire Architect, John Carr.