Owen’s family hailed from Leeds, and in 1891 Horace and his wife and two year old daughter Evelyn were living at 3 West View, Holbeck and Horace was working as an Assistant Overseer and Poor Rate Collector. In 1901 the family had moved to 17 West View and Horace is now just an Assistant Overseer.

 

Owen was born to Horace and Louisa Gledhill (nee Goldthorp) and was the second of 2 children. He had one elder sister, Evelyn born in around 1888.

 

In the second quarter of 1914 Owen married Gertrude A Spivey, and the couple lived at 15 Loversall Street, Denaby Main. They had one child, also called Owen who was born a few months later.  There is a news paper report from 1940 which mentions one Owen Gledhill having joined the army himself in that year, to fight in WW2. It is quite possible and likely that this is Owen’s son. Fortunately, there is no record of him having died.

 

Owen was a Private in the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry 1/5th Battalion, and he arrived overseas on the 13th April 1915. His medal card shows that he was awarded the Victory, British and 1915 Star medals, and that he ‘died of wounds’. Sadly, the battalion war diaries are very vague on the period during which Owen died. The battalion had been located at Elverdinghe, not far from Ypres since the 1st August 1915, and although most days have an individual entry, the period August 27th to September 20th 1915 is covered by a single entry. It tells of two spells in rotation; front line and support.

 

However, Owen is not buried at Elverdinghe or in the vicinity of Ypres; he is buried at Etaples Military Cemetery which is a significant distance away, on the French coast south of Boulogne. What this suggests is that he had been wounded at an earlier date, and moved back through the medical lines (Regimental Aid Post, Advanced Dressing Stations, Casualty Clearing Stations) to Etaples where there were a number of base hospitals, therefore, it is almost impossible to identify exactly when Owen was wounded.