Brothers, William Thomas Lockey, Ephraim Lockey and William Thomas

Brothers - William Thomas Lockey, Ephraim Lockey & William Thomas. Three Lockey brothers from Wakefield, Yorkshire, England, fought in the Great War. The two eldest, William Thomas and Ephraim joined up in 1915. William Thomas was the oldest aged 21, joined on the 27th April 1915 and was in the No. 3 Company, 1st Battalion, of the Coldstream Guards. He was killed in action during the Battle of Loos on the 10th October 1915 and is buried in the Cambrin Churchyard Extension, Pas de Calais, France.

Ephraim joined about the same time, aged 20, and was taken as a prisoner. He too, was in the Coldstream Guards. He survived being a POW and returned to Wakefield at the end of the war.

Grandad, Henry Lockey, and aged only 18 and under five foot six inches, joined up and was a private, immediately after the death of his oldest brother William Thomas, and rumour has it that Ephraim had already been taken prisoner, and was in France by the 12th December 1915. He was in the regiment of the Northumberland Fusiliers. He was wounded in the arm, which left him with a twisted arm, and was discharged from the fusiliers on the 15th April 1917, later being reinstated into the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. He was demobbed on the 26th February 1919. One can only surmise what his parents thought of granddad going so soon after the news of the other two. Very tragic times.