Joseph Barlow's Will 1916

Jean Longstaff has submitted the following:-

Joseph, born in Ryhope on 3rd July 1892, was one of the four sons of hay dealer William Barlow and his wife Elizabeth; he had three brothers William, John and Edward and two sisters, Margaret and Ann. His mother died in 1895 and his father in 1908. It is not known when the three younger boys arrived in Canada, they may have applied for a Homestead Grant but by 1915 they were farming in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba.

All three boys left the farm to enlist in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, like his brothers Joseph named his sister Margaret in Sunderland as his next of kin when he signed his attestation papers on 11th December 1915 and then he had only three days before embarking for Liverpool as Private 1000189 of the 226th Battalion under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel R. A. Gillespie.

Based at Bramshott camp, Hampshire the 226th was absorbed into the 14th Reserve Battalion in April 1917 and the following month Joseph found himself posted as a reinforcement to the 16th Battalion in France, joining them on 9th May in billets at Camplain l’Abbe. Private 1000189 remained with the 16th serving in France, apart from his two weeks leave in England in February 1918, when on his return was arrested for being drunk in Boulogne and sentenced to ten days punishment. August 1918 saw the 16th Battalion involved in the action at Amiens and it here that Private 1000189 was presumed killed on 8th August 1918 in the vicinity of Aubercourt. The Circumstances of Casualty Report states “This soldier was last seen at zero hour in the “jumping off” position, and it is presumed that he started off in a direction other than that followed by his platoon. No details are available as to the actual circumstances of his death”. He is buried in Hangard Wood British Cemetery.

His two medals, the Victory Medal and British War Medal, were sent to his sister Margaret Aisbitt in Derwent Street, Sunderland in 1922.

Joseph Barlow is remembered at Sunderland on S140.041 and in S140.048 part 9 page 200, the Canadian Virtual War Memorial and in the Canadian Book of Remembrance.

Canadian book of remembrance page 364
Canadian Virtual War Memorial
The CWGC entry for Private Barlow