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

Private JOSEPH WILLIAM FORSTER.

15653, 1st/5th Bn, Cheshire Regiment.

who died, aged 33, on the 8th of September 1916.

Son of Ralph and Ellen Forster, of 3 Park St, Skelton-in-Cleveland, Yorks.
husband of Esther Forster, of 5 Forbes St, Stockport, Cheshire.


Thiepval Memorial. Somme.

At the census of 1901. Joseph, aged 18, was living at 3 Park St, Skelton and working an apprentice watchmaker.
His father, who worked as a Deputy in the Ironstone mines, came from Pinchinthorpe N Yorks and his mother from Bilsdale, N Yorks.
He had two younger brothers, Alfred 13, a stable boy and Wilfred aged 9.
By the time of the war, he had married and gone to live in Stockport, where he joined the local Cheshire Regiment.

The 1/5th (Earl of Chester's) Bn were formed in Chester in August 1914
They landed at Le Havre in February 1915 and were attached to the 14th Brigade, 5th Division.
In 1916 the Division fought in the Battles of the Somme, which lasted from the Artillery bombardment of late June into the winter.
British casualties were estimated to be over 400,000, most of whom were lost between July and November 1916.
Joseph was one of the many who were killed and have no known grave.
These 72,000 men are remembered on the Thiepval Memorial.

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