Arthur's Story.
EARLY LIFE
Arthur Mottram was born in 1891, the son of Mary (née Bracegirdle) and George Mottram, a plumber of Macclesfield. In 1901, nine-year-old Arthur was living at 20 Prestbury Road, Macclesfield with his parents, but by 1911 the family had moved to 16 Prestbury Road, and Arthur was working as an apprentice silk designer.
Arthur was the couple's only surviving child, and worked as a designer for Smales and a pupil teacher at Macclesfield School of Art.
In 1915 Arthur married Violet Lea at Christ Church, Macclesfield. The couple had a daughter, Gladys, and they lived at 15 Cottage Street, off Oxford Road, Macclesfield.
WW1 SERVICE
Arthur enlisted in May 1916, joining the Royal Engineers with service number 168052. After training, he was drafted to France on 10 September 1917 and transferred to the 12th Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment - also known as the Teesside Pioneers which came under orders of the 40th Division.
On 28 January 1918 the battalion was at Mory, 4 miles north of Bapaume, France, when a bomb was dropped on the billets and Private Mottram was killed.
An entry for Private Mottram was printed in volume 5 of De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour 1914-1918:
MOTTRAM, ARTHUR, Private, No 46347, 12th (Service) Battn. Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own (Yorkshire Regt.), son of the late George Mottram, of Macclesfield, Plumber, by his wife, Mary, dau. of Philip Bracegirdle; b. Macclesfield, Cheshire, 26 June 1891; educ. Higher Grade School there; was a Textile Designer and Art Pupil Teacher; enlisted in the Royal Engineers (as Architectural Draughtsman) 11 May 1916; served with the Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders from 10 Sept 1917, being then transferred to the Yorkshire Regt. and was killed in action at Bapaume on 28 January 1918, by a bomb dropped by enemy aircraft. Buried in Mary (sic) Abbey Cemetery ... north of Bapaume. He married at Christ Church, Macclesfield, 9 Aug 1915 Violet (15 Cottage St, Macclesfield), daughter of John Lea, and had a daughter, Gladys, born 21 April 1917.
The death of Private Mottram was reported in the Macclesfield Times on 8 February 1918:
CRICKETER KILLED: LOCAL VICTIM OF AN AIR RAID - Mrs Mottram, 15 Cottage Street, Macclesfield, has been informed that her husband, Pte Arthur Mottram, pioneer battalion of a Yorkshire Regiment, was killed as the result of an air-raid in France on January 28th. The sorrowful intelligence was conveyed to Mrs Mottram in a letter from the officer in charge of the company... Pte Mottram was well-known in Macclesfield, and in civilian life he was a designer. He was 26 years of age, and when in Macclesfield took an active interest in sport, being a prominent member of the Macclesfield Cricket Club. He was also known in cricket circles in the Broken Cross district and participated in many encounters in the Workshops Competition. He worshipped at Christ Church and was Secretary of the Boys' Sunday School.
Pte Mottram enlisted in the Royal Engineers in May 1916 and after training was drafted out to France, and then transferred to a pioneer battalion of a Yorkshire regiment. Mrs Mottram received a letter from her husband stating that he was quite well, the day before the notification of his death. Much sympathy is felt for the widow and her child... The flag on Christ Church was hoisted half mast...
Private Mottram's death was also reported in the Macclesfield Courier the next day:
A MACCLESFIELD ARTIST KILLED - Mrs Mottram, of 15 Cottage Street, off Oxford Road, last Saturday received news of the death in France of her husband, Pte Arthur Mottram, of the Yorkshire Regiment, on January 28th. Pte Mottram was 26 years of age and joined the Royal Engineers in May, 1916, but was transferred to the Yorkshire Regiment on his going to France on September 10th 1917. He was in his billet "somewhere in France" when he was killed by the dropping of a bomb from a German aeroplane. He was a member of the Macclesfield Cricket Club, and played for Smales, where he was employed as a designer, in the knockout matches. He was a teacher at the School of Art. His parents live in Prestbury Road. He leaves a wife and one little girl.
COMMEMORATION
Private Arthur Mottram is buried at Mory Abbey Military Cemetery, France, in grave ref. II. E. 2. His widow asked for the following inscription to be added to his headstone:
OF MACCLESFIELD
SPLENDID YOU PASSED
THE GREAT SURRENDER MADE
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission holds casualty details for Private Arthur Mottram, and he is listed on the Imperial War Museum’s Lives of the First World War website.
In Macclesfield, Private Arthur Mottram is commemorated on the Park Green, Town Hall, St Michael's Church and Christ Church war memorials. He also has a copper memorial dedicated to him on the wall in Christ Church, Macclesfield.
SOURCES
UK Census: 1901, 1911
De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour 1914-1918 (Find My Past)
Commonwealth War Graves Commission website
Lives of the First World War website
Macclesfield Times: 8 February 1918
Macclesfield Courier: 9 February 1918
Research by Rosie Rowley, Macclesfield.