Arras Memorial.
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At the 1901 census Herbert, aged 3, is living at 19 Harker St and had been born in Skelton.
His father, Robert, came from Loftus Yorks and was an Ironstone miner.
His mother Sarah came from Marske, Yorks.
He had 3 elder brothers, Robert, and errand boy, Earnest 11 and John 6.
The T Curno list shows a Herbert Dowey living at 44 Park St, Skelton Green.
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 Arras memorial commemorates 35,000 men who died in this area and have no known grave.
One of the most important campaigns in which the BEF was engaged, yet in comparison with the Somme of 1916 and
Passchendaele of 1917, terribly neglected by historians.
The British Army launched a large-scale attack at Arras as part of a master plan by the new French Commander in Chief
Robert Nivelle.
Although initially successful, it soon bogged down as with most and became a terribly costly affair, as with most.
The British attack was against the formidable Hindenburg Line, to which the enemy had recently made a strategic
withdrawal.
The battle can be considered to be composed of a number of phases: the Battle of Vimy and the First Battle of the
Scarpe were the opening phases;
The Second and Third Battle of the Scarpe and the final Battle of Bullecourt and other actions against the
Hindenburg Line concluded the fighting.
Herbert Dowey was killed in action at this time.
