Each month Michael Scaife is producing articles for the St Philip and St James Church news sheet to remember those local residents who died in that month 100 years ago.
There are 71 men recorded on the Alderley Edge War Memorial, along with one member of the British Red Cross and a further 6 are remembered in the annual Remembrance Day service.
Below is Michael's most recent article.
No Alderley Edge lads died in April 1916. This month's article, therefore, will be devoted to Private Arthur Bancroft, a Wilmslow man who received the Distinguished Conduct Medal in that month. Although he lived in Wilmslow, his son, Bob, settled in Alderley Edge and was for many years a prominent figure in many aspects of village life after the Second World War. So it seems appropriate to include Private Bancroft among those we honour.
The London Gazette of 15 April 1916 carried a notice of the award of the DCM to Private Bancroft. It read:
10355 Private A. Bancroft, 18th Battalion (3rd city) ManchesterRegiment.
For conspicuous gallantry during an enemy bombardment. He helped to dig out five men from a blown-in dug-out under very heavy fire. During fifty-five minutes 107 heavy H.E. shells fell close to them as they were digging.
A report in the Manchester Guardian added that "unhappily their efforts were in vain, for the men were dead when they were unearthed". The 18th Manchesters were in trenches around Vaux on the river Somme from 6th January to 19th March, so this is presumably where this action took place.
Arthur Bancroft was the first man from Wilmslow to earn the DCM and the town was very proud of him. On Saturday, 20th May, after a procession through the town to the Drill Hall, he was presented with a clock, £50 in exchequer bonds, and a framed address from the Urban District Council.
After the presentation, Private Bancroft returned to his regiment. Three months later, in August, he was reported missing. However, after what must have been a very tense week for his wife and family, a further report was received that he had been taken prisoner. German records show that he was held at Dülmen POW camp in north-west Germany.
Arthur Bancroft was born in 1890 and married in 1915. Before the war he worked as a grocer's assistant in Manchester. In the 1920s he moved to Alderley Edge, and at his death in 1955 he was living in Moss Lane.
