War Memorials, - Elsewhere
Great Kelk (East Yorks)
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The Church in Great Kelk, with the War Memorial Plaque Attached The Church in Great Kelk, with the War Memorial Plaque Attached
Photo : Google Earth

Attached to the front of the church in Great Kelk is a First World War Memorial plaque. The plaque commemorates 5 men who lost their lives in the war, and names 13 men who served but returned.

The men commemorated as having lost their lives are;-

JOSEPH BEBBINGTON
THOMAS FOSTER
ROBERT EDWARD STEPHENSON
EDWARD DANIEL WATSON
FRANCIS JOSEPH WATSON

The two Watson names commemorated were brothers.
However, "Edward Daniel Watson" should be more correctly named as "Edward Donald Watson", who is recorded in Military records as "Donald Edward Watson". Richard Roberts (<richard.nsw@googlemail.com>) has researched this anomalous naming, and the details of his findings are shown below.

Lance Corporal Donald Edward Watson. 34736. 10th Battalion King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, formerly 2593 the Yorkshire Regiment. Son of Milner and Mary E. Watson, of Great Kelk, Lowthorpe, Yorks. Killed 2 May 1917. Aged 20.
Enlisted Bridlington.
Buried HENIN COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION.

The Great Kelk Memorial Plaque
The Great Kelk Memorial Plaque
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Photo : Colin Hinson (GENUKI)

We are very grateful to Colin Hinson who has allowed us to use the above image from the GENUKI website.

Edward Daniel Watson doesn't exist in any Military record or, for that matter, Civil record of the period in Yorkshire.
The name on the War Memorial plaque should be Edward Donald Watson K.O.Y.L.I. and a former soldier with the Yorkshire Regiment (b.1896) who is recorded as Donald Edward Watson in Military records.
On the 1901 Census return for Great Kelk he is referred to as Donald Watson
He is also recorded as such on the 1911 Census, where he is living and working as a horseman on a farm in Kilham six miles from home. I guess he preferred Donald to Edward and that probably explains why he came to be called Donald Edward in the Army.

I have traced the Watson family in Great Kelk through Census returns (not difficult as there is just the one Watson family). Francis Joseph Watson (b.1893) who also died serving with the Coldstream Guards was an older brother and the two other Watsons who served, John Milner Watson (b.1889) and Ernest Beal Watson (b.1879) were also Donald's brothers. Milner was their father's first name and Beal the mother's maiden name. The parents had 8 children in all (six sons and two daughters), Ernest being the first and Donald (b.1896) the last. One of their sons, Frederick William (b 1887), was an invalid and presumably unfit to serve. The sixth son Louis Philip (b.1891) is a mystery disappearing as he does from records after first appearing in the Civil Registration Index of Births.

According to the Army Registers of Soldiers' Effects, Donald Edward Watson left his effects to his father "Milner" as did his brother Francis Joseph which seems pretty conclusive to me.

I am 99.9% certain that Edward "Daniel" Watson on this memorial is our man and I hope you will be convinced as I am!

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