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Joseph Jopling (1880-1918)


Born in Waterhouses killed in action fighting with AIF in France


In March and April 1918 the German Army was occupying the town of Villers-Bretonneux in France where the 10th Battalion of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) was fighting alongside units of the British Army. They drove out the enemy in a daring night attack at a cost 1469 casualties. Among the Australian dead was Joseph Jopling, originally from Waterhouses in County Durham, but he had been living in Western Australia when war broke out.

Joseph came from a family of strict Methodists. He was born in the early summer of 1880 in Waterhouses and was baptised on 27 July in the Primitive Methodist Chapel in Crook. His father, William, was a miner, originally from Pelton near Chester-Le-Street; his mother, Elizabeth (nee Newton) also came from a mining family in Cassop. Joseph was the second of four children and by the time the youngest, Mary, was born, the family had moved to another mining area in Whitwood, Castleford, West Yorkshire. Travelling lay preachers found a welcome in the family home when they visited the area.

When he left school, Joseph was apprenticed to W Holland, an undertaker in Castleford. As he later gave his occupation as carpenter, it is quite likely Joseph learnt how to make coffins for Mr Holland. By 1901, Joseph had left the undertaking trade and was working for his elder brother, William, who ran a draper’s shop in Castleford. In his spare time, Joseph served on a part-time basis with the Yorkshire Hussars.

By the time war broke out in 1914, Joseph had emigrated to Australia and was working as a carpenter in Western Australia (WA). On 12 July 1915, Joseph enlisted as a private in the 12th (Infantry) Battalion of the AIF at Blackboy Hill in Western Australia. He embarked for the War on 13 October 1915, bound initially for training in the desert, at the Zeitoun Base near Cairo, Egypt, before he finally arrived in Marseilles on 3 April 1916.

The 12th Battalion was initially deployed on the Somme; first seeing action at Pozieres in July, before being sent to the Ypres Salient. With his earlier experience gained with the Yorkshire Hussars, Joseph rose quickly through the ranks, gaining the rank of sergeant on Christmas Day 1916.

After more than a year in the trenches, Joseph gained some respite from the fighting when he joined a training battalion in England in September 1917. Over the next four months, he qualified as an instructor on a bombing course, then passed as first class at the School of Musketry with a “fair knowledge” of the Lewis gun.

On 17 January 1918, Joseph returned to his unit in France. The 12th Battalion was committed to driving back the German Spring Offensive in March and April 1918 and were fighting in the area of Lys when Joseph was killed in action on 23 April.

He was buried in an isolated grave one mile west of the village of Meteren but eventually his remains were moved to the Meteren Military Cemetery.

Civil Parish: Brandon and Byshottles

Birth date: 1880

Death date: 23-Apr-1918

Armed force/civilian: Army

Residence: 62 Hedley Hill Terrace, Waterhouses (township of Brandon, ecclesiastical parish of St Paul 1881 census)
17 Common Road, Whitwood, W Yorks (ecclesiastical parish of St Philip, 1891 census)
90 Carlton Street, Castleford, W Yorks (1901 census)
Western Australia

Religion: Primitive Methodist

Employment: Apprenticed to W Holland, Undertaker in Castleford, W Yorks, draper’s assistant, carpenter

Family: Parents: William Jopling (1853-1918), Elizabeth Jopling (nee Newton) (1853-1940)
Siblings: William Jopling (b 1879), Minnie Jopling (b 1882), Mary Jopling (b 1888)

Military service:

Pre-war service: Yorkshire Hussars
Service Number 3077
Private
12th Battalion, AIF
Lance Corporal promoted 05-Aug-1916
Corporal promoted 25-Oct-1916
Sergeant promoted 25-Dec-1916

Medal(s): 1914/15 Star
British War Medal
Victory Medal.

Memorial(s): Meteren Military Cemetery

Gender: Male

Contributed by Kelloe Visitor, Trimdon Station

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