Hull Casualties

The three Diglin brothers, above, from Rosmead Street, Hull, who all died in the war. They were George Diglin, 13th EYR,  killed on 13/11/1916, Walter Diglin, York and Lancs Regiment, who died on 24/07/1917 and William Diglin, 7th EYR, killed in action, on 25/04/1917.
Hull officially lost 7,000 men in the First World War. Another 14,000 were wounded, of which 7,000 were maimed. The Hull casualty rate was officially 30% of those who served, that is 21,000 men killed or wounded, from a total of 70,000 men recruited. These were the figures reported by Hull Lord Mayor in 1919.
When the foundation stone of the Hull Cenotaph was laid, on the 9th November 1923, the Lord Mayor, declared that 12,000 people from Hull had died in the war. The increase suggests that a third or 5,000, of the initial 14,000 wounded, may have already died prematurely, in the four years after the war. The Lord Mayor may have also included the losses from neighbouring East Riding towns and villages, which were tied to Hull, by travel, work, and family. These included Beverley (600); Cottingham (105); and Hessle (104) to name just a few. Catwick, for example, is the only “Thankful Village” in East Yorkshire, where, “Thirty men went from Catwick to the Great War and thirty came back, though one left an arm behind.”
Many of Hull’s 14,000 disabled and discharged servicemen, died of their war wounds, but were never included in official casualty statistics. Such was the volume of visible wounded returning to the City, that Hull created a pioneering charity called, The Great War Civic Trust, to support them. . – https://ww1hull.com/the-city-of-hull-great-war-trust
The number of Hull’s war wounded actually increased over time, as war injuries worsened and other war related wounds were reported. The Ministry of Pensions, for example, records 20,000 war wounded in Hull, in 1924.
 
Research from this website reveals that the number of Hull related war deaths was nearer 11,500, rather than the 7,000 reported by the Hull authorities. It includes those officially recorded by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission; 720 men recorded in Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914-18 records, not born in Hull, but who enlisted in Hull and lost their lives. 1,120 men from East Riding towns and villages that were closely associated with Hull, by work, location and family. 1,300 men who died of war related injuries and sickness that claimed War Pensions, from Hull addresses up to 1928; 700 Merchant seamen, born elsewhere and overseas, who died serving on Hull ships; 250 men, (mostly discharged servicemen), who for a variety of reasons are unrecorded on Hull war memorials; 400 Hull born men who lived outside the City and died fighting for other Counties and Commonwealth countries and are often recorded on other town memorials. It includes a wide range of other sources, such as deaths reported in local newspaper “Casualty” lists, deaths recorded on “Hull Street Shrines” and Hull Church memorials; disabled servicemen that received the Silver War Badge and died prematurely, those buried in Hull cemeteries and servicemen recorded on local family graves. This website records 11,453 names of those that fell in all these categories, plus two thousand photographs of Hull Servicemen who died in the First World War to help remember them. 

This ‘Kingston Upon Hull Memorial’, data base, ensures that all Hull  casualties, are remembered by name, rank, regiment, service, age, or street. Casualties are also cross referenced by postcode, and date of death, to key dates in the war, to reveal how events impacted casualties on different areas of Hull, over time. This comprehensive analysis reveals that:

  • 4,827 men, with a direct link to Hull, are recorded killed during the First World War, by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. 3,807 of these men, served in the army, 986, in the Royal Navy; 569, in the Merchant Navy and 34, in the Royal Air Force. 
  • 6,569 men who enlisted in Hull, and died during WW1. Of these 195, died in 1914; 816, in 1915; 1,802, in 1916; 1,781, in 1917; 1,971, in 1918 & 6, in 1919. 
  • 4,330 of these 6,569 casualties (or 66%) enlisting in Hull, were actually born in Hull. Where known, 250 men enlisted in Hull from other parts of Yorkshire, as did, 208 men from Lincolnshire, 86 Londoners, 84 men from other parts of England, 21 men from Scotland, 24 from Wales, 17 from Ireland and 30 men from Australia, Canada and New Zealand. These had a Hull connection, either by birth, work or residency (Soldiers Died in 1914-1918 figures).
  • 1,555 sailors from Hull died in WW1 (CWGC figures & Maritime Great War Index).
  • 1,117 men died from surrounding East Riding towns and villages  It includes 600 men from Beverley, Hessle (104 men), Cottingham (105); Hedon (22); Willerby (14), Sutton, (36); North Ferriby (24) and Hedon (22) and other places, with strong links to Hull.
  • 15 Hull servicemen, on average, were killed and wounded every day during the First World War
  • Some days were worse than others – 47 Hull Royal Navy sailors died at the Battle of Jutland on 31st May 1916.
  • 115 Hull men, died on the 1st July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme
  • 241 Hull men died on the 13th November 1916, (the Hull Pals attacked Serre, on the Somme)
  • 131 Hull men died on the 3rd May 1917,(the Hull Pals attacked Oppy Wood, near Arras)
  • 77 Hull men died on 9th April 1917, serving with the 1st East Yorkshire Battalion, on the first day of the Arras offensive
  • 157 Hull men, died between the 21st and 23rd March 1918, during the Great German Offensive
  • Over one hundred Hull families lost two or more from the same family and at least ten Hull families lost three sons. Four Hull families are known to have lost four sons. – https://ww1hull.com/category/our-losses/brothers-that-died 
  • 26 streets, in Hull, lost 50 men or more, during the WW1. Some of these, were Bean Street (122 men); Waterloo Street (99); Spyvee Street (79); Nornabell Street (75); Gillett Street (72); Walker Street (69), Wassand Street (69); Walcott Street (68); Barnsley Street (67); Courtney Street (65); Buckingham Street (63); St. Paul’s Street (59); Sculcoates Lane (57); New George Street (57); and Clarendon Street (54). Hundreds more Hull men died from surrounding streets along Hessle Road, Newland Avenue, Holderness Road, Beverley Road, Anlaby Road and in the industrial areas of Witham and Wincolmlee. Local Newspapers reported on the hundreds of street shrines, erected in Hull (more so, than any other UK city). Some of these street shrines remain today and provide a valuable record of those who served and died from each Hull street. – https://ww1hull.com/hull-street-shrines
  • Hull’s casualties were mainly Privates, Non Commissioned Officers or from other lower ranks. There are less than 250 Officer recorded deaths in Hull
  • The first Hull casualty, was Thomas Pearson Taylor, accidentally killed on 21/08/1914. The first Hull man to die in action, was Frederick Mileham, killed on 24/08/1914
  • The first reported Hull death, was Private, Robert W. Parker, of the 1st West Yorkshire Regiment, from Adelaide Street, Hull (Hull Daily Mail, 19 Nov 1914)
  • One of the last casualties, was William “Billie” Glew, of the Royal Air Force, from Bridge Gate, Howden (Hull Daily Mail 18 Jan 1919). Commissioned on 6th August 1918, he was 18 years and ten months old, when he died, on 6th November 1918 (Hull Daily Mail 18 Jan 1919)
  • The oldest war Hull casualties were two sailors, both aged 67. The Youngest were three boys, each aged 14 and killed on active service
  • The majority of Hull’s losses were young men, with 67% dying, aged 30 years or younger. This includes 1,249 Hull Teenagers, of which, 95 died, aged Seventeen, 45, were aged Sixteen, and 9 were aged only Fifteen years old
  • Hull’s casualties accelerated as the war progressed, with most Hull men killed in 1918, the final year of the war. The 329 Hull men killed in 1914, increased to 1,266, lost in 1915, 2,450 in 1916, 2,593 in 1917 and 2,711 deaths in 1918. This was consistent with the rest of the UK. Britain lost more men in 1918, the year of victory, than in any other year of the war, and more British soldiers were killed in 1918, than the entire Second World War
  • Another 298 Hull servicemen died in 1919, being killed in the civil wars of Russia, Iraq and Ireland, clearing battlefields of dangerous munitions, succumbing to war wounds or disease, drowned at sea due to unexploded mines.
  • As war injuries worsened, so did the death toll. Hull’s War pension records show that 107 former Hull servicemen died in 1920, 105 in 1921, 39 in 1922, 35 in 1923 and another 29 in 1924. As war pensions were difficult to obtain, and not everyone applied, the losses could be much higher
  • Hull men fought from the very start of the war, until its end. They served in the all major battles – the Marne, Gallipoli, Jutland, the Somme, Arras and Passchendaele They fought in the Middle East, East Africa, the Western Front, Salonika and Russia, on land, sea and air
  • Hull men served across all armed forces worldwide and are buried at 961 cemeteries across the globe. 1,572 are buried in Hull Cemeteries. Those with WW1 military graves include 456 in Hull Western cemetery; 264 at Hull Hedon Road cemetery, 147 at Hull Northern cemetery and over 700 men who died “out of uniform”.
  • Many have no known grave. The National War Memorials to the missing, at Thiepval, on the Somme, lists at least 784 missing “Hull men”; the Ypres, Menin Gate Memorial, records another 485; the Tyne Cot memorial, Belgium, records another 315 and 830 sailors from Hull ships, are recorded on the Tower Hill Naval Memorial, London
  • The war at sea was the Hull’s longest war and probably the most harshest. Hull sailors fought countless battles daily, mine sweeping, fishing and delivering vital war materials. Hull trawlers were being lost to stray sea mines, long after the war ended. This Hull Memorial shows at least 1,555 Hull sailors, who died in service.

While Hull is more remembered for the extensive bombing suffered during WW2, it should never be forgotten that 20 years before this, Hull suffered far greater casualties in WW1. Research from this website, shows that Hull related war deaths were at least 11,053 and the male population of Hull fell during and after the war. We can only speculate on the upheaval and trauma Hull experienced during the 1914-1918 war. Those that lived through it are now gone, but newspapers still hint of the suffering,- families left heirless, penniless, orphaned, and homeless by war. Stories of suicides, depression and untreated madness, the hardships faced by returning veterans and their dependents, the ever visible presence of war wounded, who were often left to struggle, unaided. Hull’s “true” losses, may never be known, but with the release of more online records, and regular contributions to this website, new Hull casualties can be added to this Kingston Upon Hull 1914-18 Memorial website. If you have a Hull casualty from the WW1 not listed here, simply message this website with details. Let’s remember them.

The Hull Daily Mail published many photographs of the fallen, although the number of pictures printed declined as the war goes on. Below are some Hull Brothers reported killed in WW1.

Edward and William Blackburn. of Fern Street, Hull
Edward and Albert Levitt, of 59 Lee Smith Street, Hull
George and Albert Hardy, of 5 Eastbourne Street, Hessle Road, Hull
John, Edgar and Robert Collinson. Three Brothers, from New Bridge road, Hull
Albert, John and Thomas Monday. Three Brothers, from Bean Street, Hull
Samuel and Frank Hardy, of 121 Waterloo Street, Hull
Herbert & Robert Newmarch
William and Alfred Suddaby, of Lee Smith Street, Hedon Road.
Brothers, James and Charles Joys, of Wellsted Street, Hull. Both killed in 1916.
Harry and Arthur Ryder, of Victor Street, Hull
Harry and William Gall of 92 De Grey Street, Hull
George and William Milner, from Strickland Street, Hull
Thomas, John and Edward Toalster. Three Brothers, killed, from Lockwood Street, Hull
George, James, Sam and John Wass, of Princess Street, Hull. Four brothers lost in ww1.
Brother, George Edward Johnson, drowned, 1917, aged 14 and Alfred Fenton Johnson, killed on 31/03/1918, 0f 426 Beverley Road, Hull
The Four Pearson Brothers, John, Charles and Sam, were killed in WW1.
Sergeants, Llewellyn Scott, 11th EYR and Abraham Scott, 13th Yorkshire Regiment of Dansom Lane, Hull. Brothers both killed in the Spring Offensive, 1918,
Mathew and Robert Driver. Two of the three brothers, from Sculcoates Lane, Hull, that died in the war.
The Allenby brothers, of Mayfield Street, Hull, Both served with the 7th Canadians, and died together, on the same day
Arthur and Walter Drewery, of 29 Walton Street, Hull John, Arthur, and George  Barnes, of 18 Berkshire Street, Hull
William and John Edwards, both 1st EYR, of 86 Northumberland Avenue, Hull
Lewis Bilton (RGA) and Edgar Bilton, (East Kent Regimant), of 138 Mersey Street, Hull
George and Jack Sanders, of 8 Sydney Grove, Tyne Street, Hull
Brothers, Peter and John Cannell, of Withernsea Street, Hull
John and Elijah Coggin, of Barnsley Street, Hull
Joseph and Ernest Glentworth, of 68 Wassand Street, Hull. Both killed within two weeks, in 1917.
Hull Royal Hospital wounded. The 220 bed Infirmary, treated 6,500 wounded during WW1.

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1 thought on “Hull Casualties”

  1. Hi three of my great uncles were killed with in 2 days of each other Spooner Alfred, John, Thomas 1WW

    Does any one know were I can trace there Hull History.

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