Those who served their country in WW1
Search for all who served in WW1, whose families had some connection with Bollington and Kerridge.
Results of search: surname Heys
Sons of William J Heys and Emma Sarah (formerly Duncan):
Captain ALFRED DUNCAN HEYS 5th Loyal North Lancashire Regiment was born about 1 May 1884 at Bollington. He lived at High Street in 1891 and 1901 (when he worked as a pupil teacher at Bollington National School). The local paper carried this report about him in 1916:
“On Thursday, January 20th, Lieut. A. Duncan Heys was gazetted captain, thus creating something like a record in the matter of rapid promotion. It is less than eight months since he joined the Army as a private. He enlisted in the 5th L.N.L. Regiment at Fletcher Street Barracks, Bolton, Lancashire, on May 26th last. He was quickly promoted to sergeant, with charge of the orderly room; and he was gazetted to commissioned rank in September. Since then he has been given charge of the local administration centre under the West Lancashire Association, and placed in command of the 5th L.N.L. depot, whilst he is also serving as military representative on the Radcliffe District Advisory Committee.
Captain Heys is a native of Bollington, being the son of the late Mr W. J and Mrs Heys of Palmerston Street. He was educated at the Macclesfield Grammar School, where he was the holder of the Open Foundation Scholarship for two years. He afterwards was a pupil teacher at the Bollington National School, leaving there to become assistant master at the Warwickshire Reformatory School, Leamington Spa. Subsequently he became headmaster of the Liverpool Reformatory School, Newton-le-Willows. He is an ardent musician, and during the time he was in this locality he acted as organist at Kerridge, Rainow and Pott Shrigley Churches.
Captain Heys was an enthusiastic sportsman before the war. He played cricket with Eagley, and had previously played with Macclesfield, Warrington, and Leamington, and as a footballer he played with Leamington in the Coventry and North Warwickshire League. It was in the legislative side, of football playing and refereeing that he was perhaps move active, for he was a member of the Birmingham and District Referees and the Cheshire Referees Associations, whilst he also had a seat on the Stockport Football Association. He was on the Cheshire F.A referees’ list, a member of the Macclesfield F.A., and a representative on the Macclesfield Football League Executive.”
The local paper reported in 1917 that he had been wounded in the knee in France. His medal index card indicated he lived in Blackburn. It is thought that he married Margaret E Rigby in 1918. The 1939 Register records him staying at the Exchange Hotel Market Street Wellingborough, he was described as an ex-civil servant. He apparently died at Blackpool in 1968.
He is listed on the 1917 Roll of Honour.
The Bollington Discovery Centre Photo Archive contains pictures of him.
Private WALTER HEYS 11th Battalion Canadian Grenadiers 21160 born 6 January 1891 at Bollington lived at High Street in 1891 and 1901. He emigrated to Canada (possibly in 1910) and worked as a post office clerk. He enlisted 23 September 1914 at Valcartier Camp, Quebec (stating his birth year as 1889). No further details of his military service are known. He returned to UK 13 January 1920 (“Orduna” from New York to Liverpool). It is thought that he died in the Fylde area in 1973.
He is listed on the 1917 Roll of Honour.
ALFRED DUNCAN HEYS
Notes:
Please note that MOST (about 60%) of WW1 army service records did not survive the London blitz of WW2. If (and only if) soldiers served overseas they would have received campaign medals - campaign medal rolls and index cards have generally survived, but only show brief key details. If a soldier served overseas before the end of 1915, the index card shows the date of first arrival in a theatre of war. If there is no date on the card, the soldier first served after the end of 1915. In many cases this is all that is known about a soldier's service.
As a general rule in these short histories, details of campaign medals awarded are NOT included unless there is something of particular interest. See the section on Medals for an explanation of how soldiers qualified for the various campaign medals.
Unless otherwise stated, addresses are in Bollington, near Macclesfield. St John's was the local Anglican church, and St Gregory's was the local Roman Catholic church. (Neither church is still in use, replaced by St Oswald's and the new St Gregory's respectively. However, each of the former churches has its own burial ground.) The Wesleyan Methodist chapel is on Wellington Road opposite St Gregory's, but is no longer in use as a chapel. The Primitive Methodist church (now demolished) was on High Street and the Methodist New Connexion chapel (now demolished) was on Grimshaw Lane. The Congregationalist chapel was at the bottom end of Palmerston Street; part of the building still stands and is now used as offices.
In some cases, details of army organisation, battalion movements, etc have been extracted from The Long, Long Trail website.
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