Thursday 25 June 2015

Entwistle Joseph - Private (24770)

Pte Joseph Entwistle
7th Battalion,
East Lancashire Regiment,
Killed in Action 7th June 1917,
Age 31
Buried Croonaert Chapel Cemetery.

Private Joseph Entwistle 24770 of the 7th Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment, was killed in action near Wytschaete in Belgium  on  7 June 1917. He was a single man, aged thirty-one and before his enlistment he lived at 3 Whittaker Terrace. He was the son of the late Joseph and Sarah Ann Entwistle. The 7th Battalion took a leading part in the Battle of Messines which started on 7 June 1917. As the battalion advanced from their trenches there was little opposition from the German troops and they took many prisoners. ‘Mopping - up’ captured trenches yielded many more prisoners. Further advances, however, were resisted by artillery and machine-gun fire but the Battalion captured all it’s objectives. In the early evening the Battalion was relieved by incoming troops. As they withdrew, however, they suffered casualties from German long range shellfire. Pte Entwistle was one of these. Wytschaete (‘Whitesheet’ to the troops) is a village two and a half miles (4Kms) south of Ypres. Croonaert Chapel was a shrine in a nearby hamlet and a cemetery was begun near the shrine after the battle. The area was in the old No Mans Land. Croonaert Chapel Cemetery is a relatively small one with seventy six graves. Six of Pte.Entwistle’s comrades are buried in the cemetery. He lies in Grave B9. Nearby, in Grave B1, is another Haslingden man. Pte. John Richard Rushton


Pte Joseph Entwistle - Census Information - (Click over to enlarge)