West Yorkshire Regiment

Carole Fife and Derek Johnstone have provided the following:

Samuel Heatley Earl was born at Bedlington, Northumberland, in 1887; his parents were Samuel, a coal miner and Agnes Earl.

Aged 12 in 1901 he was living at Gladstone Terrace, Bedlington with his family which included siblings Thomas 23, Peter 21, William 20, John, and Isabella aged 25.

The 1911 Census shows the family still living at Gladstone Terrace where his father is a jobbing gardener and Samuel is a labourer with the local council. Also in the house at this time is his brother William, now aged 30, and employed as a cartman.

Samuel Heatley Earl’s military records are available and show he enlisted at Bedlington when aged 28. Unusually, his name is on a WW1 war memorial and there is a discharge certificate in his records.

Samuel enlisted 11th December 1915, before conscription. He served at home, initially with the Durham Light Infantry, from December 1915 to January 1919, in roles supporting the war effort. Unfortunately Samuel had medical problems which included heart disease that would have limited his abilities. After being discharged at the age of 31 in 1919 he was living at 19, Grant Street, Leeds Yorkshire. It’s possible he is buried at Netherton Lane Cemetery, Bedlington.

His older brother John Earl also died in the Great War.

Samuel Heatley Earl is remembered in Bedlington on B15.02, B15.09, B15.20 and B15.26 page 63

A CWGC entry for Private S.H. Earl has not been located