Arthur Mason
- Family History
- Military History
- Extra Information
- Photographs
Arthur was born in 1891 the son of William Taylor Mason a blacksmith and Mary Elizabeth Mason (née Sandaver) of North Wheatley. He had an elder brother Sidney born in 1889. In1901 the family was living at Bottom Street at North Wheatley. However by1911 Arthur was lodging with Stephen Edwards and his family at 183 South View Road Sheffield. On 24/8/1915 Arthur married Ethel Potts of Clayton West whose father was a decorator. At the time of Arthur’s death she lived at ‘Ivydene’ North Wheatley.
Arthur enlisted at Chesterfield in September 1914 and served with the 2nd Battalion Sherwood Foresters (Notts & Derby Regiment). Vermelles British Cemetery Grave Reference: 6.A.29
Retford Times 27 April 1917 Pte Arthur Mason Mr and Mrs W T Mason, North Wheatley, received the distressing news on Saturday that their younger son, Pte Arthur Mason, Sherwood Foresters, was killed in action on April 16th. The information was sent by the Lieutenant of his gun team by a stretcher bearer and by his Sergeant with whom the deceased had been for two years, and it appears Pte Mason was killed while on sentry by the explosion of a shell and only lived for a few minutes after being struck. They bore testimony to his excellent character and bravery and expressed their deepest sympathy with the family. The deceased who served his apprenticeship with Mr Leatherland, grocer, North Wheatly, enlisted while living in Derbyshire in September 1914 in the Sherwood Foresters and was married two years ago, Tuesday last. The deepest sympathy is felt by a large circle of friends in the village and in the Retford and Gainsborough districts with the bereaved widow and parents of the gallant soldier.
