Walter HUDSON

28686, Private. b. 1897, Queensbury d. Thu. 3rd May 1917 (aged 20).

Similarly to many of the Clayton casualties, Walter belonged to a Pals battalion, although unlike the rest of the Clayton Pals he belonged to the Leeds Pals. This was the 15th Battalion, West Yorkshire Regt. and he had been conscripted into the group as soon he had ‘come of age’.
He lived with his parents at 30, Hillside Place in the village of Mountain overlooking Clayton, but unfortunately his father died when Walter was a young teenager. Walter left his mother to join the Pals, and had only been with the battalion a few short months when they were sent into action at the Battle of Oppy Wood, one of the major battles during the Arras campaign of spring 1917.

A small scale Somme offensive, this date would also become synonymous with the 1st July, as again many Pals battalions were thrown into the fray, with heavy casualties being inflicted on the only recently rebuilt groups of men. The Leeds Pals suffered approximately 170 officers and men killed outright (Walter being one of them) with another estimated two or three hundred wounded, nearly half the total battalion strength being taken out in a single day. Many of the other Pals suffered similarly, and at least one other Clayton man was present and injured during this engagement.

Walter was the son of Martha Ann Hudson, of 30, Hillside Place, Mountain, Queensbury and the late Alfred Hudson.  He had a brother Lewis and two half-brothers Herbert and Arthur, in 1911 the family lived in Heaton.

Serving in the 15th Battalion. West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales’s Own) William was killed in action whilst attacking the enemy at Gavrelle on 3rd May 1917.

Like so many of his comrades, Walter’s body was never recovered from the front line positions and he is commemorated on the Arras memorial for soldiers with no known resting place.