Hill 60 - Roundhay Park

[cnosni]

Si wrote: cnosni wrote: My grandmothers brother,Robert Hoolahan,fought at Hill 60.He was part of the relief (2nd Batt Duke of Wellingtons West Riding)for the 1st Devons who held the hill on the 4th May 1915.The following morning (5th May)the Germans attacked the hill at 5am,launching the attack with gas.Robert was reported missing but was found in hospital suffering from gas poisoning.The maps i have of the Ypres salient clearly show that the ground around hill 60 was between 50-100 metres above sea level..Robert,by the way,was killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, at Serre.I plan to visit his grave in the near future. Hi Chris,My great grandad was in the same battalion, but I don't know what he got up to in the war. He might have been there too. I've still got his cap badge. Small world eh Si?I got the details from the regiments museum.I wrote to them with the details,and for a contribution they supplied me with photocopies of the battalion diary,specifically his company (D Company) and they were also able to supply details of his embarkation etc.unfortunately his war record appears to have perished during the blitz,though his brothers survived.Have you checked out ancestry for ww1 war reecords and medal records?

[Si]

Yes I have, Chris. Apparently no medals (the shirker!) but I found a signing up form (I forget the correct term) in his name, but I'm not 100% sure it's him. If it is, he was bloody unlucky. If I remember right, he signed up for two years, with twelve years in the reserve. This was in 1900. So at the outbreak of war, he was in his final reserve year, so was recalled, and sent to the front. Luckily, he survived the whole thing. The badge has a dent in it caused, according to my dad, by a bullet. I think someone just sat on it!

[cnosni]

Si wrote: Yes I have, Chris. Apparently no medals (the shirker!) but I found a signing up form (I forget the correct term) in his name, but I'm not 100% sure it's him. If it is, he was bloody unlucky. If I remember right, he signed up for two years, with twelve years in the reserve. This was in 1900. So at the outbreak of war, he was in his final reserve year, so was recalled, and sent to the front. Luckily, he survived the whole thing. The badge has a dent in it caused, according to my dad, by a bullet. I think someone just sat on it! I think he should have got some sort of commemerative/service medal.It might be worth dropping the regiment a line,do you want the address?He may also have recieved a pension,have you checked those records?

[Leodian]

I've just come across this thread while searching for something else. As a child in the 1950's I used to go to Roundhay Park and would sit on Hill 60 to watch Childrens Day. I then never went to the Park again until the very late 1970's. When I saw Hill 60 it was nothing like the high hill (indeed mountain) that I recalled it as a child! The scale of things certainly change a lot as you get older (unless Hill 60 had eroded a lot!). Nowadays it is becoming harder to tell where the rows/ground steps were to sit on.