Arthur Leonard's Story.
EARLY LIFE
Arthur Leonard Scragg (known as Leonard) was born on 22 January and baptised on 22 February 1885 at St Alban's Church, Macclesfield, the son of Alice (née Smith) and Samuel Scragg, an asylum attendant, of Macclesfield.
In 1891, six-year-old Leonard was living at 24 Brock St, Macclesfield with his parents and siblings Alfred (16), Frederick (13), Lilly (10), Maude (3) and five-month-old Alice. By 1901 the family had moved to 156 Great King Street, Macclesfield and Leonard was working as a silk twister.
Leonard enlisted with the 1st Dragoon Guards on 22 October 1901, receiving service number 5328, overstating his age by two years; however, he was discharged one month later for making a mis-statement as to age on enlistment.
In 1908 Leonard married Annie Armitage in Macclesfield and in 1911 Leonard was working as a Prudential Assurance Agent and living at 2 Newton Street, Macclesfield with his wife and a son, Alfred Leonard, born in 1909. A daughter, Dorothy May, was born in 1914.
Leonard's widow Annie later lived at 9 Charlton St, Macclesfield.
WW1 SERVICE
Arthur enlisted with the Cheshire Regiment in 1915 with service number 26667 and, after training, was drafted to France with the Welsh Regiment. He was reported missing after 31 July 1917 and was later presumed to have been killed in action on that date. A report stating that he was missing was printed in the Macclesfield Times on 24 August 1917 (which mistakenly states that he served with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, not the Welsh Regiment):
Mrs Scragg, Charlton Street, off Crompton Road, has been informed that her husband, Pte Arthur Leonard Scragg, Welsh Fusiliers [sic], is missing. He is thirty-one [sic] years of age, and was formerly engaged as a silk twister at the Oxford Road mill of Messrs Joseph Dunkerley and Son, Ltd. Pte Scragg is a native of Macclesfield, and received his education at St Alban's Day School, being well connected with the Church. He was well-known as a violinist and played at a number of local entertainments. Enlisting in the Cheshires two years ago, on being drafted out to France last May, he was posted to the Royal Welsh Fusiliers [sic]. There are two children. The news is not official, Mrs Scragg having received the information from a comrade of her husband.
Pte Scragg has two brothers serving. One, Lieut. Alfred John Scragg, is stationed at Grantham with the Machine Gun Corps. He is an old soldier, and prior to the outbreak of the present war had twenty-two years' service to his credit. The Lieutenant went through the South African war, and was promoted from Quartermaster-Sergeant to commissioned rank for general good service in France. The other brother, Quartermaster-Sergt Fred Scragg, East Kent Regt (Buffs), served seven years and took part in the Boer campaign.
On 25 January 1918, the Macclesfield Times reported that L/Cpl Scragg was assumed to have been killed in action on 31 July 1917:
Mrs Scragg, Charlton St, off Crompton Road, Macclesfield, has received news that her husband, Pte Arthur Leonard Scragg, Welsh Fusiliers [sic], who was reported missing on July 31st 1917, was killed in action on that day. It appears that Pte Scragg went over the top and was mortally wounded by a shell. Pte Scragg was thirty-one years of age and in civil life was employed as a silk twister at the Oxford Road mill of Messrs Joseph Dunkerley and Son, Ltd, where the flag was hoisted half-mast on receipt of the news of his death. He enlisted in the Cheshires over two years ago.
COMMEMORATION
L/Cpl Scragg is buried in Grave Ref. III. C. 17. in Artillery Wood Cemetery, near Ypres, Belgium. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission holds casualty details for L/Cpl Scragg, and he is listed on the Imperial War Museum’s Lives of the First World War website.
In Macclesfield, L/Cpl Scragg is commemorated on the Park Green, Town Hall and St Alban's Church war memorials.
NOTES
Brother of Lieut. Alfred John Scragg, who served with the Machine Gun Corps; and Quartermaster-Sergt Fred Scragg, who served with the East Kent Regt (Buffs).
Another Macclesfield man named Arthur Scragg was killed in action on 17 February 1917.
SOURCES
GRO (England & Wales) Index: Births, Marriages
Macclesfield Non-Conformist Baptism Registers (FindMyPast)
Census (England & Wales): 1891, 1901, 1911
WWI Medal Index Cards (Ancestry)
WWI British Army Service Records 1914-1920 (FindMyPast)
Commonwealth War Graves Commission website
Macclesfield Times: 24 August 1917, 25 January 1918
Research by Rosie Rowley, Macclesfield.