Pte. Stephen Grady was reported absent from
roll call parade at 7.15am, as witnessed by Cpl. Irvine Ellis; he was ordered to be confined to barracks for five
days. Stephen Grady had enlisted in Bradford on 9th September at the
age of 26. He was a married man, having married Elizabeth O’Connel in Bradford
on 5th April 1911; the couple had a daughter, Annie, born 14th
June 1912. Grady had been working as a woolcomber before enlisting. His three
brothers had all enlisted at around the same time. Patrick Grady, aged 34,
a bricklayer, had joined 9DWR; Jack Grady, aged 32, a mason’s labourer,
had joined 9DWR; and Edward Grady, aged 24,a plush finisher, had joined
1st/6th West Yorks. Irvine Ellis was the second son of
Philip and Jessie Ellis. He was born in Redcar in 1892 and educated at Coatham
Grammar School. However, following the death of his father, the family had
settled in Bradford where, in 1911, Ellis had been working as an assistant textile
designer. He had enlisted in August 1914 and had been posted to 10DWR. Either
before or during training, Irvine Ellis had become a close friend of J.B
Priestley.
In Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Canada, John George Waggitt signed his attestation papers and completed his primary medical examination as part of the process of enlisting for the Canadian Expeditionary Force. He was the younger brother of Willie Waggitt, who, although not one of the original members of Tunstill’s Company, was well-acquainted with a number of the original members of the Company and would later serve alongside them.
The Waggitt
family were originally from Catterick but, more recently William Waggitt snr.,
his wife Jane Ann, and their six children (three sons and three daughters) had
been settled at Moorside Farm, Addingham. John George Waggitt had emigrated to
Canada in the Spring of 1914, leaving Liverpool on 14th March,
aboard the SS Alsatian. Willie had been among the Addingham and Ilkley men who
had already volunteered just before Tunstill had begun his campaign; he had
joined 9th Battalion West Ridings.
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