Peter's Story.
Little is known of Peter’s early life, except that he was born in the Stockport area. On December 24, 1899, he married his fiancée, 19-year-old Ethel Goodger, at Christ Church, Heaton Norris. The 1901 Census show that they set up home at 9 Laurel Street. By 1911 they had moved to 15 Heath Street, Brinksway, at that time they had three children, Jane 9, Ethel 8 and George 5. Peter worked as a Ring Spinning Jobber for a local cotton manufacturer works until he enlisted into the army.
161st Brigade was formed in spring 1915 and Peter was almost certainly an original member. He will have seen major action during the Battle of the Somme in the summer and autumn of 1916. The Third Battle of Ypres (often known as Passchendaele) had opened on 31 July 1917 and the official end of it was later determined as the 10 November. Of course, that didn’t mean the fighting completely stopped around the Belgian town. Peter and his comrades were just to the northwest of Ypres (now Ieper) near the village of Brielen. The Brigade’s War Diary, records that “B” Battery was heavily shelled on the morning of the 15th. Peter was unlucky to be the only man killed when a shell hit his crew’s gun, destroying it. Another three men were wounded, including a Gunner F Malone who is not believed to have been related.