Jean Longstaff has submitted the following:-

Brought up living above his parents’ grocery shop Arthur, born on 16th May 1889, was the youngest son of the five siblings of John Boston Tilley and his Scottish born wife Agnes Annie. As a youth Arthur was a pupil at Bede School, was a member of 3rd Durham Light Infantry volunteers and also a member of the Masonic Lodge at Monkwearmouth where he was initiated in November 1912 just a week before he sailed for Canada with the intention of becoming a grocer in Edmonton, Alberta.

On 22nd September 1914 Arthur heeded the call for volunteers and enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force at the newly established camp at Valcartier, Quebec, and became Private 18797 of the 9th Battalion, and embarked with them for England on board the SS Zealand at the beginning of October. On arrival in England he was promoted to Corporal and on 26th April 1915 was posted as a reinforcement to the 1st Battalion, joining them in billets near Le Touret, France the following month.

In mid June the Battalion was involved in fighting around Givenchy and Corporal Tilley was killed there on the 15th June 1915. A report from a Rev. W. Baton states that he was buried behind the trench 500 feet from Ducks Bill, but his body was never found .

His Canadian records read:-

Civil Parish: Sunderland
Birth date: 16th May 1889
Death date: 15th June 1915
Armed force/civilian: Army
Residence: 56 James Street, Southwick, Sunderland (1891 census)
Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba (1911 Canadian census)
Employment: grocer (1911 Canadian census)
Clerk (enlistment papers)
Family: Parents: John Boston Tilley, Agnes Annie Tilley nee Langster
Siblings: Violet Turnbull Tilley, Thomas Blanshard Tilley, Agnes Tilley, James Tilley, Barbara J. Tilley
Religion: Church of England
Military service:
3 Durham Light Infantry (pre-war)
Corporal
18797
9th Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force
1st Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force
Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal, 1914/15 Star
Gender: Male

Arthur Boston Tilley is remembered in Monkwearmouth on M46.30, in Southwick on S130.13, S130.15 and in on the list of war dead in Peter Gibson’s book on Southwick, at Sunderland on S140.17 S140.048 part 9 page 202.

In Canada he is remembered on their Virtual War Memorial and in their Book of Remembrance

Canadian Book of Remembrance
Canadian Virtual War Memorial
The CWGC entry for Corporal Tilley