Gledholt Methodist Church, Huddersfield: Love Letters From the Front

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The love story of World War One soldier, Henry Coulter, and his childhood sweetheart, Lucy Townend was revealed after more than 100 love letters were discovered in an attic nearly a century after they were written. Henry and Lucy were regular chapel-goers at Gledholt Methodist Church in Huddersfield and enjoyed a courtship at home before the onslaught of war pulled them apart. Henry wrote from the training camps as he trained with the 17th (Leeds) Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment, calling her “Beauty” and, “the sweetest girl in the whole world”. Lucy, who lived in Birkby, where the letters were eventually found, wrote to her “Darling Boy” of how she longed to be back with him again. Sadly, Henry died in France in 1916, from injuries when a trench fell on him and Lucy’s last letter was returned unopened. Memorial plaques with Henry’s name can be found in Gledholt Methodist Church and also Huddersfield Town Hall. Location: Gledholt Methodist Church, Huddersfield, Yorkshire HD1 5QX Image shows photos of Lucy and Henry pictured in the local newspaper with letters they wrote to each other. Newspaper courtesy of Huddersfield Examiner (October 1916) Introduction read by Liz Green. Song was commissioned by BBC Radio Leeds, written by Jasmine Kennedy and performed by Jasmine Kennedy and Danny Landau