John Sydney MATTOCK

20 April 1917

MATTOCK – April 2nd, killed in action in France, Pte. John Sydney Mattock, of the Northumberland Fusiliers, son of Mrs John Sugden Mattock, of Main Street, Bradley, aged 25.

20 April 1917

BRADLEY SOLDIER KILLED – Memorial Service

News has been received that Private John Sydney Mattock, of the Northumberland Fusiliers, was killed in France on April 2nd. He was 25 years of age and the second son of Mrs. John Sugden Mattock, of Main Street, Bradley. He enlisted on July 26th last year, and had been in France about five months. Before joining the army he was employed at Messrs. P. Green & Co.’s as a warpdresser. He was secretary of the Bradley Cricket Club, and also acted as secretary to the managers of the Evening Schools. For many years he was a teacher in the Wesleyan Sunday School. Of a bright and cheery disposition, he was highly respected, and the deepest sympathy is felt for Mrs. Mattock and family. The eldest son, Mr. Tom Clifton Mattock, is in the navy.

On Sunday morning a memorial service was held in the Wesleyan Chapel, conducted by Mr. Herbert Thornton. Many of them, he said, had come that morning drawn by a common bond of attachment to one who went out at the call of duty and had suddenly been cut off. Their hearts went out in deepest sympathy to those nearest and dearest to him. John Sydney Mattock was no fighter, his was not a combative nature but rather kind and gentle. He loved with a pure devotion, home, mother, brothers and sisters. His letters showed the tenderest solicitude to all at home, but especially to his mother. He begged her to always look on the bright side and not worry on his account. Such an attachment between parent and child was a mighty factor for good in the life of any boy or girl, young man or young woman. Sydney had grown up amongst them, and took the liveliest interest in all that appertained to either school or chapel. He was a Sunday School scholar and teacher, whilst on the recreative side of their village life he was secretary of the Cricket Club. On the educational side, he acted as secretary to the managers of the Evening School, and they felt the village was poorer by his removal. He was always of a bright, cheery and optimistic disposition and though no fighter he was no shirker. In almost all his letters home he begged them to keep smiling and not worry, adding “that he was all right and did not fear what came so long as they loved and prayed for him.” He had had his first trial in the trenches and he was not afraid. When returning, after being home on leave, he was asked if he didn’t fear to go back? “No,” he said, he left himself in God’s hands and resigned himself to the inevitable. There was some consolation when they remembered that his life had been laid on the altar of his country’s freedom, that he had made the supreme sacrifice in the great struggle against military autocracy, and had hastened that day mentioned by the Prime Minister “when war may be abolished for ever from the category of human crimes.” He had bravely passed the threshold of manhood, but life’s influence was not bounded by years. He liveth long who liveth well, and he was sure that his life would be a fragrant memory, and that they would all gratefully remember that he died to vindicate the cause of righteousness and human liberty. – His favourite hymn, ‘Jesu, Lover of my soul,’ was sung, and at the close of the service Mr. Chapman, the organist, played ‘O rest in the Lord.’

27 April 1917

ANOTHER BRADLEY SOLDIER KILLED

Mr. and Mrs. Walker Blades, of Prospect Terrace, Bradley, received the following letter last week from Lance-Corpl. J. Littlewood, of the Duke of Wellington’s West Riding Regiment:– “ It is with deepest regret and sympathy that I beg to inform you of your son’s death. He was killed by shrapnel yesterday, the 14th, and was buried last night. He was a good workmate, and I sincerely regret his loss. He was buried in an English grave and had a proper funeral service.”

Pte. Albert Blades, of the West Yorkshire Regiment, who was 22 years of age, was the only son of the above, and enlisted on March 28th, 1916. He went to France on Jan. 12th. The lad was of a quiet and retiring disposition, but all his letters breathed a love of home and parents, for whom the deepest sympathy is felt. He was formerly employed as shoemaker by Mrs. Walker, of Skipton.

The following letter was received by Pte. Blades’s parents yesterday morning from Private Joe Harry Mawson, another Bradley lad:–

“I beg to extend to you and your family my deepest sympathy in your sad bereavement, and I most sincerely pray that God will comfort and sustain you until that day dawns when you will be re-united in the Better Land. The news came as a great shock to me this morning. I made enquiries about him and learnt that he was wounded in the back and died in hospital. I have seen the place where he is buried, and let me assure you that he has been buried respectably. At present there is nothing but a bottle with his name, number, and date of funeral, ‘Pte. A. Blades. No. 4604, 14/4/17,’ but in the course of a few days there will probably be a small wood cross put up to mark the place. I have been talking to his sergeant, and he told me he was a good soldier. There is only one consolation for you, that is that he has done his duty, and paid the highest sacrifice for the sake of humanity.”

A memorial service was held in the Wesleyan Chapel on Sunday morning, conducted by Mr. Herbert Thornton, who said that it was their painful experience to have to record the passing away of another of their lads on the field of battle. Never surely in the history of mankind was there so much anguish and heartbreak on account of loved ones who had been prematurely cut off. Rachel’s weeping for their children because they are not. Well might they cry out “How long, O Lord, how long?” When would the toll for human misunderstanding, avarice and inordinate ambition be expiated. They little thought a week ago, when paying a tribute to Sydney Mattock, that even then Albert had found a last resting place upon a foreign shore. Yet, so it was, and his death made the sixth of their lads who had laid down their lives in their country’s cause, viz., Willie Brayshay, while in training on Salisbury Plain; Robert Henry Mawson, Leonard Throup, John Sydney Mattock, James Henry Peel, and lastly, they hoped, and so far as they knew, Albert Blades. Albert was of a quiet disposition; he didn’t wear his heart upon his sleeve, his innermost thoughts and aspirations were rarely, if ever, expressed. He was diligent and plodding, kind-hearted and considerate, strongly attached to all at home, purposely avoiding in his letters anything calculated to give uneasiness or anxiety. Consequently, it was not known definitely whether he was killed in action or hit with shrapnel behind the line. He attested on his 21st birthday, and joined the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment. He was one of their own lads, having passed through the Sunday School, and previous to enlisting was connected with Mr. Bray’s Young Men’s Class. He was also a frequent attender at public worship, and in your name and my own I extended to the bereaved relatives their sincere sympathy. It was some consolation to know that his death brought no remorse, that his end had not been hastened by fast and profligate living; he has died fighting your cause and mine. Death met him in the discharge of his duty. What worthier end? In the words of Mazzini, I would say “Life is a mission duty its highest aim,” for unselfish actions never die. May some comfort come to all those who were bitterly mourning the loss of loved ones at this time, from the thought that their life was given up in the most momentous struggle in history, and that they sacrifice their all in order that right and freedom should triumph and the world be made a brighter and a happier place in which to live.

All through life I see a cross
Where sons of God yield up their breath,
There is no gain except by loss,
No life – except by death.

At the close of the service ‘O rest in the Lord’ was played by the organist, Mr. Chapman.

05 April 1918

To the dear memory of Pte. J.S. Mattock, who was killed in France, April 2nd, 1917.

– From Hilda. Caroline Square, Skipton.

In affectionate remembrance of a dear son and brother, John Sydney Mattock, who was killed in action, April 2nd, 1917.

Reunion
There is a land where those who loved when here
Shall meet to love again.

– From his loving Mother, Sisters and Brothers, and Hilda. Fern Cottage, Bradley.