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| Pte James Clayton Haworth |
East Lancashire Regiment,
Killed in Action,
5th November 1918,
Age 28,
Buried Maubeuge Centre Cemetery.
Private James Clayton Haworth 241382 serving with the 1st/5th East Lancashire Regiment, was killed in action in France on 5 November 1918. He was aged twenty-eight and was married. Pte.Haworth was the eldest of the six children of Mr.John William and Mrs.Alice Haworth (nee Clayton) of 26 Coronation Street, Haslingden. He was born at Buildings, Grane Road and baptised at Grane Methodist Chapel. He attended Grane National School. He came from a well - established Grane family, his mother’s family had lived in the area since at least the 1830’s Pte. Haworth married Miss Edith Hartley at St Thomas’s Church Musbury, on 17 September 1918 on his last leave home. Their new home was at 411 Holcombe Road, Helmshore. In the final week of the war Pte.Haworth’s battalion was on the road to the town of Mauberge following retreating German troops. At 6.30 a.m., in heavy rain, they advanced through the Mormal Forest, near Hautmont, to occupy a bridge-head across the River Sambre. They were immediately met by heavy machine gun fire which delayed the advance and caused many casualties. When the German troops retired, the battalion followed. Owing to a communications failure the British artillery then fired on the advancing battalion. In these operations twenty-five men were killed and seventy-two wounded. Pte.Haworth was one who lost his life - just five days before the Armistice. Mauberge lies in the valley of the River Sambre. The town was occupied by the Germans throughout the war. Pte.Haworth is buried in Mauberge Centre Cemetery. It is north of the town on the Mons Road and was used by the Germans as a cemetery for prisoners of war. After the Armistice 105 bodies were brought in from nearby battlefields. Pte.Haworth’s would be one of these. There are 182 war graves in this cemetery. Pte.Haworth lies in Grave number D6.
Newspaper Memorials:
In loving memory of Private Jas. Clayton Haworth, 1/5 East Lancs., killed in action, November 6th 1918.
"Eternal Rest,
Give unto him, O Lord."
From his loving wife and all at 411 Holcombe Road, Helmshore.
"Our dear son is from our presence gone,
A voice we loved is still,
A place is vacant in our home,
Which never can be filled.
We have lost, heaven has gained,
One of the best this world contained."
From Father, Mother, Sisters and Brothers,
26 Coronation Street.
"Dear is the grave where our brother is laid,
Sweet is his memory which never shall fade,
Leaves may wither and fall from the tree;
Some may forget him, but never shall we."
From his loving Sister and Brother, Nellie and Wilfred, 337 Grane Road.
