Soldier Record

This is the only photograph left in the family of Wellesley. Unlike his brother Denzil we have none of him in uniform or at the front. Wellesley was the yougest son of Denzil and Margaret Jarvis of The Crest Stoneygate Leicester. At the outbreak of the War Wellesley like his elder brother who had signed up in Canada, immediately went to sign up for active duty but due to his height he was deemed to short and unfit for military duty but unfazed and alongwith many others he kept trying and eventually signed up with 'The Prince of Wales own' 17 Battalion of The West Yorkshire Regiment. After his basic training he went to France and into the Trenches. Wellesley suffered serious injuries during the fighting at Paschendale and sadly later died of these wounds he is buried at Wimereux. His Mother Margaret, my great grandmother, also added a commemoration stone to Wellesley under a large granite Celtic Cross erected in the Church yard at Knighton Leicester, to the memory of her husband Denzil who had been lost on the Titanic in 1912