Littleborough soldiers killed in 1915 remembered

Rifleman William Chadwick

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Three soldiers who were connected to Littleborough who died in 1915 are being remembered on the 100th anniversary of their deaths.

Rifleman William Chadwick was born in Littleborough in the middle of 1893 and lived with his widowed mother Mary and his two brothers and two sisters at 1 Bamford Street, Littleborough. By 1911, the family had moved to 128 Hare Hill Road.

He was employed as a ‘Bobbin Carrier for Winder’ and prior to enlisting in Rochdale in late 1914, he worked at Cleggs Mills, Shore and was a member of the St Barnabas Company of the Church Lads Brigade.

On Sunday 18 July 1915, 22-year-old Rifleman Chadwick died in a military hospital in Étaples from wounds he had received in action on Sunday 4 July 1915.

Rifleman Chadwick had the dubious distinction of being the first serviceman from the parish of St Barnabas to lose his life in the First World War.

Lance Corporal Michael Francis (Frank) Murphy was 17-years-old when he died of wounds on 12 July 1915.

He was born in Rawtenstall in 1898 and in 1911 was living at 23 Heights Lane, Rochdale. The CWGC reports that he was the son of Michael and Catherine Murphy of 7, Stubley Mill Fold, Littleborough.

He was buried in grave number D102 in the Lancashire Landing Cemetery and his name is recorded on St Andrew’s War Memorial

Sergeant James Robert Stott Ogden was born in Plymouth in late 1885 and, according to records from 1911, he was living with his Littleborough born wife Sarah Ellen.

His wife died in 1912 and prior to enlisting in Rochdale, Sergeant Ogden lived with his sister at 10 Stafford Street, off Hamer Lane.

He joined the Lancashire Fusiliers and was killed in action in Dardanelles on 14 July 1915.

Sergeant Ogden was a widower who left a son, aged eight. He was buried in grave number IXE2 at Redoubt Cemetery, Helles, Turkey.