tony paley Posted 15 January , 2015 Share Posted 15 January , 2015 I am hoping that someone can clear up an ambiguity. I have taken up a free trial with ancestry and whilst browsing through a family tree, placed on by a cousin, I came accross a distant relative, my grandfather's cousin, who according to ancestry was killed in action 1/6/1916 whilst serving with the 13th York&Lancs. His name was Arthur Percy Paley b.1867 at Crofton,West Yorks. Which would have made him 49 years old. I thought this unusual so made a check with CWGC and established that a Private Percy Paley number 13/773 was KIA on 1st July 1916 whilst serving with the 13th(Service)Battalion of the above regiment. No age was given for this soldier and he is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial. However, although no expert on ancestry I did find a Percy who was born at Crofton and living with his grandparents and who would have been 22 years old in 1916. I could find no details of Percy's birth and it seems he was with his grandparents at a very early age. Far be it from me to question ancestry but I think that Percy is no doubt Arthur's son but so far I cannot find any connection via ancestry, whose records insist it was Arthur KIA. Could any kind pal establish the age of Private 13/773 Percy Paley. Whatever the outcome his is definately kin to me and as I visit the Somme fairly regularly it would give me a connection to those events of the 1st July 1916. tony P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clk Posted 15 January , 2015 Share Posted 15 January , 2015 Hi Tony, Is this your Percy - Percy James, son of James William and Caroline Sarah Paley, born Crofton 5th December 1893? http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/2252/32355_248861-00403/9352933?backurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.co.uk%2f%2fcgi-bin%2fsse.dll%3fdb%3dWYorkCoEBaptism%26h%3d9352933%26ti%3d5538%26indiv%3dtry%26gss%3dpt%26ssrc%3dpt_t17275710_p20405297862_kpidz0q3d20405297862z0q26pgz0q3d32768z0q26pgplz0q3dpid&ssrc=pt_t17275710_p20405297862_kpidz0q3d20405297862z0q26pgz0q3d32768z0q26pgplz0q3dpid&backlabel=ReturnRecord There is a will for the man that died on 1st July 1916. Might give some pointers. https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/Wills?Surname=Paley&SurnameGrants=Paley&YearOfDeath=1916&YearOfDeathGrants=1916&IsGrantSearch=False&IsCalendarSearch=False#soldiers Regards Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ralphjd Posted 15 January , 2015 Share Posted 15 January , 2015 Arthur Percy Paley died 1936 registered Leeds North. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ralphjd Posted 15 January , 2015 Share Posted 15 January , 2015 Percy JAMES Paley confirmation 13th March 1912 aged 18 - born c1894 I cannot see where Ancestry insist it was Arthur who was killed though. Ralph. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Langdon Posted 15 January , 2015 Share Posted 15 January , 2015 Tony, Ancestry family trees are notoriously unreliable. There's only one public family tree that links Arthur Percy Paley, son of William and Harriet, to the Percy Paley in Soldiers Died in the Great War and that link has clearly not been researched. The same tree includes (i.e. has the option of) him being resident in Willesden in 1926! There are other family trees that has his death in 1936 as in Ralph's post above. Both were born in Crofton so could of course be related, but Percy isn't Arthur's son and there's no evidence on Ancestry that Arthur served. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarryBrook Posted 15 January , 2015 Share Posted 15 January , 2015 The following from The Yorkshire Evening Post, Wednesday July 19 1916 may help? No service number or date of death mentioned. It was split up on the page. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarryBrook Posted 15 January , 2015 Share Posted 15 January , 2015 Whilst looking for the content of post # 6 I spotted this, although off the topic it may be of family history interest. The Grantham Journal, Saturday December 2 1916. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony paley Posted 16 January , 2015 Author Share Posted 16 January , 2015 Many thanks for all your help. I have checked some of my old records obtained from the Wakefield History Soc.It appears that Percy is Arthur's nephew. So he is still the cousin to my grandfather. Clears up the mistake, I suspect that my cousin in Ireland, who completed a family tree,caused the blip. I think that Frederick Paley is also part of the same family from the wakefield area. again many thanks for the help. My Gt.Grandfather , also born in the Wragby area, was a veterinary officer with the RHA and settled in Ireland where my immediated ancestors hail from. Always aware of the yorkshire connection but now with greater interest given these connections to WW1 Tony P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony paley Posted 16 January , 2015 Author Share Posted 16 January , 2015 Hi Tony, Is this your Percy - Percy James, son of James William and Caroline Sarah Paley, born Crofton 5th December 1893? http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/2252/32355_248861-00403/9352933?backurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.co.uk%2f%2fcgi-bin%2fsse.dll%3fdb%3dWYorkCoEBaptism%26h%3d9352933%26ti%3d5538%26indiv%3dtry%26gss%3dpt%26ssrc%3dpt_t17275710_p20405297862_kpidz0q3d20405297862z0q26pgz0q3d32768z0q26pgplz0q3dpid&ssrc=pt_t17275710_p20405297862_kpidz0q3d20405297862z0q26pgz0q3d32768z0q26pgplz0q3dpid&backlabel=ReturnRecord There is a will for the man that died on 1st July 1916. Might give some pointers. https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/Wills?Surname=Paley&SurnameGrants=Paley&YearOfDeath=1916&YearOfDeathGrants=1916&IsGrantSearch=False&IsCalendarSearch=False#soldiers Regards Chris Chris, Thank you for your help, I have ordered Percy's will. He is the same chap in both of your links I am now clear as to where he fits in the family. Tony P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarnsleyHistorian Posted 19 May , 2016 Share Posted 19 May , 2016 Thank you all for this post. The Barnsley War Memorials Project is trying to find all the men from our area who fell in WW1 to create a Roll of Honour as our Council did not manage to put one together after the war despite a few attempts. (For men read men and women.) Our criteria are: Men born in Barnsley Men named on any of Barnsley's War Memorials Men who lived in Barnsley at the time of their enlistment into HM Forces. My colleague Pete had spotted a mention of Percy Paley in the Barnsley Chronicle for 5 August 1916. However there was insufficient evidence to say he had moved from Crofton, his place of birth, which is not that far away, to Barnsley, despite evidence on SDGW showing he enlisted here into the 13th Battalion York and Lancaster, 1st Barnsley Pals. Your thread has provided the proof in the snips from the Yorkshire Post which state he was an electrician at Grimethorpe Colliery. He is not named on the memorial at Crofton nor on either of the memorials we know of in Grimethorpe. He will now be included in our Roll of Honour. http://www.barnsleywarmemorials.org.uk/2014/08/about-this-project.html Thanks again, Linda Secretary BWMP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony paley Posted 20 May , 2016 Author Share Posted 20 May , 2016 Linda, Thank you for your efforts to include soldiers on such memorials. The information regarding the newspaper insertion in the Chronicle came from one of the many members of the forum who contribute these details. I was unaware of Percy but had visited the areas of the Somme battlefield many times, including photographs of the area around Serre and had photographed the memorials to the 'Pals'of the 31st division without realising that I had a family connection. Tony P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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