ARTHUR WILLIAM JARVIS (1895-1917)

Arthur William Spalding was born at at Hawthorn Bank Spalding 1895.

In 1901, the son of a brewery store keeper living with his family at 11 Francis Street, Spalding.

In 1911, he was a dyers errand boy living at 31 Granby Street, Peterborough with his Father who was now a railway goods porter for the Midland Railway Company.

He signed up with the Lincolnshire Regiment and, after being transferred to the 16th Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment (also known as the 1st Bn. 'Bradford Pals'), was killed in action 3rd May 1917 near Gavrelle he has no known grave. His brother was killed at Lens in 1917 and also has no known grave. 

The last major attack at Arras took part on a wide front from Fresnoy in the north in the Canadian sector to Bullecourt in the south, where the Australian and British troops attacked the Hindenburg Line beyond the village.

In some areas, there was some limited success, in most areas total failure. The bodies of the dead lay in No Man’s Land, cut down as they had tried to advance. Few were recoverable, and most were eventually buried by shell fire.

The battlefield at Arras on this day was truly grim, and truly a slaughterhouse for so many units that went into action.

Casualties on 3rd May 1917 were the heaviest of the whole battle with over 6,000 officers and men killed in action; of these nearly 5,000 of them are commemorated on the Arras Memorial to the Missing. It must be one of the highest proportion of missing for a single battle in any British engagement on the Western Front