Jean Longstaff has submitted the following:-

Wilfred was born in South Shields on 6th March 1883 and educated at the Boys High School, which he attended from ages 9 to 16. He was the only son of local solicitor William Aaron Hedworth and his wife Margaret, who also had five daughters, Edith, Winifred, Violet, Florence and Dorothy, and in 1901 they were living at “Sea Holme” in Westoe Village.

In May 1906 Wilfred and his father travelled as gentlemen on the SS Lake Erie from Liverpool to Montreal, with their onward destination being Winnipeg, and after six weeks father William returned to England alone. Nine years later in June 1915 Wilfred enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force giving his occupation as clerk and mentioned his time in the local militia 79th Cameron Highlanders of Canada. Naming his father as his next of kin he became Private 153038 of the 43rd Battalion, a unit made up of the men of the Cameron Highlanders, and he arrived in England in August 1915 being based firstly at Shorncliffe and then Bramshott Camp before proceeding to France on 19th February 1916, fighting as part of the 9th Infantry Brigade, 3rd Canadian Division.

The beginning of October 1916 saw the Battalion move from billets near Bouzincourt in the Somme to bivouacs at the Brickfields near Albert, prior to relieving the 27th and 28th Battalions on the front line. The morning of 8th October saw the battalion attack Regina Trench with the object of moving the front line over Hill 130. Under a heavy barrage of fire the troops came across thick wire in front of the trench and had to retire, in all that morning they lost eight officers, over 200 men were wounded and a similar number missing. One of those reported missing after the action north of Courcelette was Private 153038 Hedworth.

Wilfred Anthony Hedworth is remembered in South Shields on S86.020, at his old school on H104.06, as Hedworth A.W. at East Boldon on E46.01 and at West Boldon W99.02 and W99.06

He is remembered in Canada on their Virtual War Memorial and in their Book of Remembrance, and in his local church in Canada at Beaconsfield, Manitoba.

Beaconsfield Church Manitoba
Canadian Book of Remembrance
Canadian Virtual War Memorial
The CWGC entry for Private Hedworth