BLACKWELL FAMILY

Cope and Lucy Blackwell, of 21 New Street, Uttoxeter, lost two sons – Joseph and Ralph.

In addition, two other sons (Bert and Cope) served their country and survived the war.

In October 1917 the Uttoxeter Advertiser published an article in which they said that the Blackwells had a record of which any family could be proud.

 Joseph and Ralph

Joseph and Ralph both died in the service of their country and therefore they both have their own sections in the pages that follow. It is worth pointing out, however, that it has been difficult to sort their  details out because their obituaries in the Uttoxeter Advertiser mixed them up.

The details which appear in their sections have been pieced together from the CWGC and ‘Soldiers Died in the Great War’ databases as well as the Uttoxeter Advertiser’s obituaries and Rolls of Honour.

Joseph was killed at the Hohenzollern Redoubt during the battle of Loos in October 1915.

Ralph was killed on the Ypres salient two years later in October 1917 during the battle of Passchendaele.

Bertram

Lance-Corporal Bert Blackwell left Uttoxeter with a large contingent of recruits in October 1914.

In October 1917, when news of Ralph’s death came, he was in hospital at Newcastle-on-Tyne being treated for shell-shock.

Cope

Private Cope Blackwell went to the front with the Derbyshire Yeomanry in early 1915.

He took part in the landings at Suvla Bay during the Gallipoli campaign in the Dardanelles.

After that he served in Egypt, where he was when news of Joseph’s death came in.