Vernon Coates Hooley

C Company, 1/7th Battalion Cheshire Regiment Served as Vernon Coates Hooley. Private Vernon Coates Hooley enlisted in September 1914 and was posted to the 1/7th Bn. Cheshire Regiment, part of 159th Brigade, 53rd (Welsh) Division. The Battalion sailed from Devonport in July 1915 for Alexandria, Egypt, and subsequently to the island of Lemnos (4 August). On 9 August the Battalion landed at C Beach, Suvla Bay, Gallipoli, where it came under heavy shell fire. It was later ordered to attack in the direction of Anafarta Saghir and by the end of the day Vernon was one of those reported missing in action. His death was later presumed to have occurred on 9 August. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Helles Memorial, Turkey (including Gallipoli), Panel 76-78. He qualified for the 1915 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal. CWGC - History of the Helles Memorial (extract): 'The eight month campaign in Gallipoli was fought by Commonwealth and French forces in an attempt to force Turkey out of the war, to relieve the deadlock of the Western Front in France and Belgium, and to open a supply route to Russia through the Dardanelles and the Black Sea. The Allies landed on the peninsula on 25-26 April 1915; the 29th Division at Cape Helles in the south and the Australian and New Zealand Corps north of Gaba Tepe on the west coast, an area soon known as Anzac. On 6 August, further landings were made at Suvla, just north of Anzac, and the climax of the campaign came in early August when simultaneous assaults were launched on all three fronts. However, the difficult terrain and stiff Turkish resistance soon led to the stalemate of trench warfare. From the end of August, no further serious action was fought and the lines remained unchanged. The peninsula was successfully evacuated in December and early January 1916.' (www.cwgc.org)

Note: surname incorrectly transcribed as 'Holley' on the Boots (Retail) memorial. Vernon is commemorated on two memorials in Macclesfield: WMR12996: WW1 St Paul’s Parishioners, Brook Street, Macclesfield. Vernon Hooley Dedication: ‘Sacrifice. In grateful memory of the men of St Paul’s Church who fell in the Great War. 1914-1919 [13 names] Let us be true to the land for which they died.’ WMR2085: Macclesfield Park Green. Hooley TVC Macclesfield Times and East Cheshire Observer, 1 October 1915: ‘Missing Men. Anxious Relatives in Macclesfield. Official intimation was received on Saturday by Inspector Hooley, of the Macclesfield Borough Police Force, who resides at 70, Prestbury Road, that his son Private Vernon Hooley, of ‘C’ Company, 1/7th Batt. Cheshire Regt., now serving in the Dardanelles, is reported missing. From private enquiries Inspector Hooley learns that his son has been missing since the landing of the Battalion at Suvla Bay. He is naturally very anxious to ascertain his whereabouts, and would be glad of any information that other members of the Battalion – whether in the Dardanelles or in this country - may be able to give. (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk) British Red Cross & Order of St John Enquiry List, Wounded & Missing 1914-1919: Enquiry date 26 January 1916. Vernon C Hooley, reported missing or wounded 25 September 1915 (sic); unofficially wounded. Registers of Soldiers' Effects: Death presumed 9 August 1915. His father (sic) William H. and mother (sic) Martha A. were joint legatees. WW1 Pension Ledgers: named William Henry and Martha Ann Hooley, of Macclesfield.