EDWARD MALPASS

Private Edward Malpass,

4049, 1/4th King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (KOYLI)

Edward Malpass was born at Nostell in 1890 the son of Worcestershire miner Edward Malpass and Staffordshire born Sarah Ann. In 1891 the couple and four children under the age of nine years, born in Ryhill, were living at North Row, Ryhill.

In 1901 the family, now comprising seven children only one of whom was of working age, had moved to Royston. To help make ends meet the household also had three boarders, a 47 years old widower and two children, all born in Wales. In 1905 Edward Malpass senior of Barnsley was imprisoned in Wakefield HMP for a month for receiving stolen coal.

Edward senior had form; in 1869 aged 14, in separate incidents he stole some sausages, a bun and some clover and in April 1871 he stole a tame pigeon. More seriously in February 1873 he was convicted of housebreaking and sentenced to twelve months in Stafford Gaol.
By 1911 the larger family had moved back to Ryhill, living in a five roomed home on Station Road with seven of their ten surviving children, three of whom, including Edward junior, were working the local pit. Little surprise then that Edward Malpass junior, aged 22, should find pastures new and on 7th September 1912 he married 22 years old Jane Davey at Ossett Holy Trinity Church. Jane was living with her parents at 8, Wakefield Road Ossett and Edward’s address was 16 Teale Street, Ossett. The couple had two children, Ronald born March 1913 and Edward born October 1914.

On 4th August 1914 Great Britain declared war and on 24th October 1914 Edward Malpass, aged 23, of Kaye’s Buildings Ryhill attested at Wakefield and three days later he was posted to the 8th battalion, King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry with service number 18889. Edward was 5’6” tall, weighed 140lbs with a sallow complexion, brown eyes and brown hair with good physical development and pulse rate. He was declared “fit for the Army”.

Two weeks later the Army found him medically unfit for service. It is odd then that the same Edward Malpass, albeit with service number 4069, disembarked in France with the Territorial 1/4th battalion King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry on 9th July 1915. The 1/4th Battalion was formed in Wakefield in August 1914, moving on mobilisation to Doncaster where it was encamped on the racecourse. Then in September it moved to Sandbeck Park and on 18th November 1914 to Gainsborough where it remained in billets and had a spell of coastal defence work. On 26th February 1915 it moved to York and billeted in the Cocoa Works until it proceeded overseas via Southampton and Folkstone to join the Expeditionary Force in France.

The infantry landed at Boulogne on 12th April 1915 and a month later on 15th May 1915 the battalion came under the command of 148th Brigade in the 49th (West Riding) Division. Edward caught up with them in a troop replacement contingent on 9th July 1915 by which time the Division had moved to Belgium.

For the next six months the Division occupied this sector of the Ypres-Boesinghe front without any violently disturbing incident. The work of covering the canal bridges was arduous and many casualties were occasioned from time to time.

Sadly Private Edward Malpass was killed in action on 24th October 1915 just 108 days after he disembarked in France.

The Regimental War Diary recorded as follows;-
23.10.15 Enemy fairly quiet. At 12.30 p.m. the enemy shelled with whizz-bangs. No damage to trench. Casualties: 2 other ranks killed & three wounded.
24.10.15 Enemy fairly quiet during day. Casualties: 2 other ranks killed and two wounded by shell fire. One Officer, Captain J.P. Critchley, wounded.

Private Malpass was posthumously awarded the British and Victory medals for service overseas in a theatre of war and the 1914-15 Star for service overseas on or before 31st December 1915.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission remember him with honour at BARD COTTAGE CEMETERY, Belgium I.B.28.

For much of the First World war, the village of Boesinghe (now Boezinge) directly faced the German line across the Yser canal. Bard Cottage was a house a little set back from the line, close to a bridge called Bard’s Causeway, and the cemetery was made nearby in a sheltered position under a high bank. Burials were made between June 1915 and October 1918 and they reflect the presence of the 49th (West Riding), the 38th (Welsh) and other infantry divisions in the northern sectors of the Ypres Salient, as well as the advance of artillery to the area in the autumn of 1917. After the Armistice, 46 graves were brought in to Plot VI, Row C, from the immediate area. There are now 1,639 Commonwealth casualties of the First World War buried or commemorated in this cemetery. 39 of the burials are unidentified but special memorials commemorate three casualties known to be buried among them.

Edward Malpass is also remembered at the Ryther & Havercroft War Memorial alongside his brother, John Thomas Malpass, Lance Corporal 15938, 11th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers killed in action on 16th July 1916. He is remembered at Thiepval Memorial of the Missing, France. Another of the brothers, Benjamin Malpass, Private 242585, KOYLI died on 12th October 1920, aged 31 is remembered with honour by a Commonwealth War Graves Commission at Ryther Cemetery.
To add to the above losses to parents and siblings, Edward’s widow Jane Malpass lost her elder son, Ronald, in early 1919 aged five. Later, on 24th November 1919 Jane, of Kaye’s Buildings, Ryhill was remarried to widower Joseph Jowitt of Quarry House, Ryhill. The couple had a son, Joseph born May 1921 and later that year the couple had moved to live at Shafton, Barnsley. By 1939 the family, including Jane’s surviving son, Edward Malpass, had returned to Ryhill where they lived on Mill Lane.