SKELTON - IN - CLEVELAND
IN HISTORY
"WE WILL REMEMBER THEM"

Private STANLEY COATES.

201949, 4th Bn., Yorkshire Regiment.

who died on the 15th September 1916.


The Thiepval Memorial.

S Coates appears on the Skelton war Memorial, but not on the Church plaque.
Address in Skelton and family connection not yet traced.

The 4th Battalion, Yorkshire Regiment were formed in August 1914 in Northallerton.
They became part of the 150th Brigade, 50th (Northumbrian) Division.
After landing at Boulogne on the 14th May 1915, the Division took part in most of the actions on the Western Front.
The Battle of the Somme began with a massive bombardment at the end of June 1916 and a series of offensives were continued into the winter of that year.
Stanley Coates appears to have lost his life in one of these, the Battle of Flers-Courcelette, which commenced on the 15th September, the day of his death, and lasted until it was called off on the 22nd of that month.
It was notable for the introduction of tanks, 49 in all, by the British.
Only 15 made it to No Mans Land, but they were considered to have had a devastating effect on German morale.
The British forces made initial gains of some 2 km within the first three days, something of an achievement at the time, and particularly during the Battle of the Somme.
Led by tanks the villages of Martinpuich, Flers and Courcelette fell to the Allies, as did the much sought-after High Wood.
Nevertheless, a combination of poor weather and extensive German reinforcements halted the British and Canadian advance on 17 September; the Allies had again suffered heavy casualties, including Raymond Asquith, the son of the British Prime Minister Herbert Asquith.
The Thiepval Memorial commemorates more than 72,000 missing men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died on the Somme battlefields before 20th March 1918 and have no known grave.
Most were killed between July and November 1916.