Lewis S. AVERY,

241800, Private. b. 1888, Stanningley, Leeds d. Thu. 10th Oct. 1918 (aged 30).

Coming from a military family, Lewis had not moved to Clayton until he was in his teens. Both his father and brother were in the army, his father being an ‘Old Contemptible’ who was sent out at the very start of the war in August 1914. Soldiers referred to the surviving members of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) affectionately as this because of the amount of time they had spent in the trenches throughout the Great War and Sergeant H. Avery survived for over four years under these conditions – well and truly earning the title of an ‘Old Contemptible’!

His son joined the 10th Battalion of the (Prince of Wales Own) West Yorkshire Regiment in 1915, leaving his home at 9, Back Fold, Clayton behind him and after training was sent to France, where one night after a raid on a trench he failed to return. He was posted as missing in action (M.I.A). and later, presumed killed in action. At the end of the conflict his body was found and buried, and at last his family could finally know his last resting place. Lewis is buried at Montay-Neuvilly Road Cemetery, Montay, France.

Lewis is also comemorated on the Queensbury war memorial. Read more about his service here