Edward Stopforth
“A Gathurst Mother’s Three Soldier Sons” from the Wigan
Observer, 27th January, 1917:
“Mrs Stopforth, of Gathurst,
Shevington, has two soldier sons who
have made the supreme sacrifice,
while a third is serving with the
colours.” Edward, 26, private in the
Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, died
on 22nd November, 1916. The article
goes on to say that Private John
Tunstall, Edward’s step brother, had
left Shevington some years before and
moved to Durham. He was killed on 1st
July, 1916, and left a widow and three
children. Brother Albert, also a soldier,
survived.
Originally Edward was in the Manchester Regiment, no.
2106, enlisting on 6th August 1914, two days after war was
declared, transferring to the Loyal North Lancashire
Regiment, no. 4775, on 25th May 1915.
He spent his first 320 days in the army in England and was
sent to France on 22nd June 1915, dying just over a year
later in 22nd Nov 1916. On two separate occasions he
forfeited pay for "absence" and on 29th Nov 1914 was found
"drunk in his billet at 9.30pm"! for which he lost 24 days pay.
On 14th April 1915 whilst on sentry duty he was found
"sleeping on his feet" and was confined to barracks for 2
days.
He was 5ft 6 and half inches tall, with grey eyes and brown
hair and no distinguishing marks. He had 6/6 vision in both
eyes.
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Edward’s family
The 1911 census shows Edward, 22, as the oldest of five children
living with Edward and Nancy Stopforth at 79, Gathurst Lane. The
house is no longer there.
Edward senior was a platelayer for the Lancashire and Yorkshire
Railway, who operated the line to Southport. Our Edward, Edward
junior, is described as a “Coal miner (below surface hewer at face)”.
Two brothers, Hugh, 18, and Joseph, 13, are described as “hauliers”
for Edward, probably meaning that they dragged the coal cut by
Edward to the pit tubs. Edward may have been responsible for paying
them. Also living in the house was a sister Agnes, 15, and a
mysterious “grandson”, Edward Wilcox, 3.
A complicated family
Nancy was not Edward senior’s first wife nor he her first husband.
Edward senior had originally been married to Ann, and they had had
four children. Ann died in 1890 when our Edward was just one, and
within a year Edward senior had brought Nancy Taylor to live with
him as his “housekeeper”. Nancy brought three children with her who
had two different surnames, Tunstall and Taylor. The two adults and
seven children lived at “Douglas Meadows”, Gathurst Bridge.
By 1901 the family had moved to “Oddfellows Houses”, also at
Gathurst Bridge. Edward senior and Nancy had married and
produced four more children, and the family of fourteen occupied two
adjacent cottages. Edward junior is recorded as the head of the
second house. Also living with them were John and Alice Tunstall, 58
and 57, probably Nancy’s brother and sister-in-law.
Finally, in 1911 the (slightly) smaller family had moved to the
(probably slightly) larger house at 79, Gathurst Lane. Along with
Edward senior and Nancy were our Edward, his half siblings, Hugh,
Agnes and Joseph, and “grandson” Edward Willcox, aged 3; he might
have been the son of one of Nancy’s two daughters by her first
husband.
All the male children in the family worked in the mines. Edwina
Taylor, Nancy’s daughter, made cartridges at Roburite, and her other
daughter, Mary, was in domestic service.
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Edward’s work
Edward was a hewer
in a coal mine. His
job was to cut the
coal from the coal
seam, using a pick.
This stone in St Anne’s churchyard records the deaths of our
soldier, Edward Stopforth, in France, and also of his half
brother, James Tunstall.
Edward’s younger brother
Hugh also died young
and is buried in St Anne’s
along with Edward Senior
and Nancy, Edward’s
step-mother. Although
they had been married
before, this second
marriage for both of them
lasted almost forty years.
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What happened to Edward?
Edward died on 22nd November 1916. His body was never
found. His step brother, James Tunstall, also died in the war
but his brother Albert survived
It does not seem possible to identify exactly where Edward
died. The 1st battalion of the Loyal North Lancashire regiment
was involved in the various battles along the Somme River
and Edward’s memorial at Thièpval suggests that he died in
that area.
The battle of the Somme apparently ended on 18th
November. Perhaps Edward went missing in the last days of
the battle and when it came to recording casualties a few
days later, it was then that he was found to be missing. One
source says when the regiment’s losses were totalled on 31st
December 1916, 190 “other ranks” were recorded as missing.
Perhaps one was Edward.
This source mentions the Regiment fighting at Railway Wood
and “Beek Trench” near Ypres. Here is a description of the
trench:- “a mass of slime and rotten sandbags which it was
our job to drain, duck board and rivet with corrugated iron . . .
going up Beek
Trench on a
dark night was
no picnic. You
started along a
long narrow
alley winding
uphill, your
hands feeling
the slimy
sandbagged
walls, your feet wary for broken duckboards . . .”
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