ERNEST Nettleton was an 18 year old office worker when war was declared. He enlisted as 16/1172 in 1st Bradford Pals' Battalion.

His brother Hubert was only 16 but he followed Ernest to the recruiting office and, once he was of age on 10 March 1915, was accepted into the 2nd Pals' Battalion with Service No. 18/436.

Close on Hubert's heels six days later came his sister's husband, Edmund Hugh Steele (18/518). Younger sister Bertha's uncle-in-law, Edward Branson, had joined the Seaforth Highlanders in Manningham Park (No. 4377).

Of these four men, two were to survive the war but both of them (Hubert Nettleton and Edmund Steele) were awarded Silver War Badges . Edmund Steele suffered wounds and was discharged on 1 November 1917. Hubert Nettleton was discharged wounded in January 1919.

The story of Ernest Nettleton's war makes interesting reading, said Tricia Platts, Secretary of Bradford's World War 1 Group.

She wrote: "Whilst Ernest, his brother Hubert and brother-in-law Edmund Steele had all survived the Somme, by the winter of 1916 the Pals were depleted in number and low in spirits.

"And what a winter it was! In weather conditions described as the most severe since 1880, the outdoor life of the men was incredibly harsh.

"New drafts of men arrived while the two Pals' Battalions were billeted around the village of Hébuterne. Eight new officers and 418 other ranks joined the 16th Battalion; but many of these were new conscripts and 224 of them were described as 'untrained'.

"There were also a few who returned after recovering from wounds, some of these from other West Yorkshire Battalions: the wholly 'Bradford' flavour of the Pals was becoming diluted.

"After a period of rest near Doullens, the Pals returned to trench life near Hébuterne on February 21. The tactics of the German high command had changed since September 1916.

"Ludendorff and Hindenburg, the new commanders, were building a massive new defensive line and preparing to give up ground to lure the Allies forward. Field Marshal Douglas Haig, commander of the British Expeditionary Force, suspicious of this apparent retreat of the Germans, was preparing to 'probe' the enemy's front line.

"One such probe was planned as an attack on a copse near the village of Hebuterne,known to the Germans as Copse 125 and to the British as Rossignol, or Nightgale, Wood.

"wo companies of the 16th Battalion were the troops chosen for the task. Among them were Lance Corporal Ernest Nettleton. While the enemy had been observed by the Bradford men tending the wire in front of their lines, staff officers at Brigade HQ some miles further back, were convinced that the Germans were actively withdrawing and such 'tending of the wire' was bluff.

"The attackers left Hebuterne by Woman Street trench before dawn on February 27, 1917, and crossed the quiet fields in darkness. Battalion HQ in Woman Street waited for news.

"When news eventually came, it was all very bad. Poor intelligence gathering had missed spotting a German gun emplacement in Rossignol Wood. When the Bradford men merged from their trenches to start the attack they were cut down. Had no lessons been learned from the Serre attack on July 1, 1916?

"Men sheltering in shell holes who remained alive were quickly surrounded by a German counter attack and taken prisoner. The cost of the slaughter was 226: 78 killed, 83 wounded, 65 missing.

"Forty three of those who died that morning lie buried in an old German trench, now known as Owl Trench Cemetery. It is a mass grave and the names of the Bradford lads are inscribed three to a headstone.

"Ernest Nettleton's family received a photograph of the original grave marker which has pinned to it nearly 50 flimsy metal plates, each with the impressed name of one of the Pals.

"Ernest's sister Bertha had already seen a similar photograph of the much less cluttered grave marker for her husband's uncle, Edward Branson.

"Among Ernest Nettleton's papers and medals were two other medals which, for some time remained a mystery. They were awarded to John Moxon, one of the Jubilee Triplets born to Thomas and Martha Moxon in 1888, the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria's reign.

William and Thomas were the other triplets and, in total, Mr and Mrs Moxon had ten surviving children. They moved from Barnsley to live at 183 Leeds Road, Bradford.

"Before the war, John Moxon had been a Bradford Territorial. When he re-enlisted in December 1915 he joined the Royal Scots regiment and, later, after being wounded he trained as a Pioneer with the Royal Engineers.

"He had married Clara Hustwit at Saltaire Primitive Methodist Chapel in April 1915 and they were living at 8 Elliot Street, Saltaire.

"John and Clara had no children and John returned from the war in 1919 as an invalid. He died in 1932 and Clara never re-married. She was regularly visited in her old age by Bertha (Nettleton) Branson which is probably how her husband's medals came to be with Ernest Nettleton's papers.

"Ernest Nettleton's family also treasured a copy of the Wesleyan Methodist Roll of Honour published on 20 July 1917. On page 41 is Ernest's name, one of 3,800 included, which records Wesleyan Methodist soldiers and sailors who died in the previous 12 months.

"The booklet also contains the order of service. Addresses from the Chaplains to Australian and Canadian Forces and the first and last hymns were intended to uplift and give reassurance:

Ten thousand times ten thousand,

In sparkling raiment bright,

The armies of the ransomed saints

Throng up the steeps of light;

'Tis finished, all is finished,

Their fight with death and sin;

Fling open wide the golden gates,

And let the victors in.

Onward therefore, pilgrim brothers,

Onward with the cross our aid!

Bear its shame and fight its battle

Till we rest beneath the shade.

Soon shall come the great awaking,

Soon the rending of the tomb;

Then the scattering of all shadows,

And the end of toil and gloom.

"The collection of treasures stored away by the Nettleton family perhaps suggests they were neither reassured nor uplifted."