Harrogate Herald - 24th October 1917

Roll of Honour

Lieutenant Poole, only son of the late William Poole, of Masham, and of Mrs Poole, of Bloom Bank, St George's Road, Harrogate, and grandson of he late Rev W J Slacke, of Morpeth, was killed in action on he 9th inst. He was 22 years of age, and educated at Clifton College, Harrogate, and Aldenham School. On leaving the latter educational establishment he became articled to Mr J W Render, JP, solicitor, Harrogate, and on the outbreak of the war he volunteered and was rejected for the Regular Army, but shortly afterwards joined the 2/5th West Yorks Regt as a private rather than wait for a commission in that regiment, and in a very short time reached the rank of sergeant. In July 1916, he was recommended for and given a commission in the 3/4th Yorks and Lancs Regt, and shortly afterwards left for the Front. Early in July last he sustained a severe gunshot wound in the left arm, and after being in hospital some time, returned to France. In a letter from the lieutenant colonel of his regiment to his mother, he says : "Your son was one of the officers whom I could always rely on in any emergency; he was fearless in the trenches, most hard-working when out of the line, and his loss will be very much felt in the battalion"; and his captain writes : "I can only say what a great loss he is to me and all of us". Lieutenant Poole was a member of the Harrogate Old Boys Rugby Football team.

SDGW

4th (Hallamshire) Battalion (Territorial), York and Lancashire Regiment

Lt William John Rowland Ernest Poole

KIA 9th October 1917