Joseph NUTLEY Private 3408, 2 nd Northumberland Fusiliers. Died 21 st February 1915. Joseph Nutley was born in 1888 in Railway Street in Howden-le-Wear, where his father was a miner. At the age of fourteen he was a grocer's apprentice, but he later left the grocery trade and the family home, and worked for some time as a miner, boarding with the Rose family at Horden. It is probable that he enlisted prior to 1914 as a regular soldier in the 2 nd Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers. The battalion had been based in India, and it is probable that Joseph saw service there before the battalion returned to England. He went to France with his battalion on the 16 th January 1915. Joseph was in Flanders for only a short while before being killed on the 21 st February. He is honoured on the Menin Gate Memorial at Ypres. In addition, a processional cross was commissioned which was held within St. Mary’s Church, Howden-le-Wear. The inscription reads: In loving memory of Joseph Nutley, 2 nd N.F. who fell in the Great War at Ypres on February 21 st 1915. This cross is given by his brother George Nutley. When the Church was deconsecrated in January, 2008, the cross was returned to the family.

Joseph Nutley and his eldest brother Thomas. There was a fifteen year age difference. Joseph is in tropical uniform and was on leave from serving with the Northumberland Fusiliers in India prior to the outbreak of WWI. Image courtesy of the Nutley Family

RememberingOur Fallen

Howden-le-Wear History Society