World War One: Walker Butterworth

Date published: 05 October 2018

Walker Butterworth, of Heywood, was killed in action on 6 September 1917.

Employed as a piecer at Plum Mill, Walker enlisted with the Lancashire Fusiliers 1/5th on 2 June 1915, going on to serve in Egypt and France.

Walker was one of twelve children, having five brothers who all served, plus six sisters. Another four siblings died in infancy.

His parents, Walker Butterworth Senior and Elizabeth Clegg, married in 1881. Walker Butterworth Senior was a councillor on the old Heywood Council representing West Ward.

At the outbreak of World War One, the male side of the family were aged as follows: Charles, 27, William, 25, John Howarth, 24, Walker, 20, Edward, 17, and Thomas, 15.

When Walker enlisted in the Lancashire Fusiliers, three of his brothers were already in the war and the remaining two would enlist after Walker’s death. 

When Walker was going to the station with his youngest brother, he told him that he wouldn't be coming home, a premonition of his own death.

Younger brother Edward was awarded the Military Medal for saving a team of horses that were in his charge from the battle field, presented with the medal on 28 February 1920 by Mayor of Heywood, Councillor J. S. Hargreaves J.P. at the United Methodist Church and Sunday School.

They all came from the Bury New Road area; the family home being 26 Bury New Road.

Walker is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Passchendaele, Belgium as with many others killed in action whose bodies were never found to be buried.

In recent years, his family have had his name added to the Cenotaph in Heywood's Memorial Gardens as it with others had originally been omitted.

The Bronze Plaque, or ‘Death Penny,’ awarded to the family on the death of a family member in action, is still with his descendants.

Documents still kept within the family include: letters from the front line, postcards, and greetings cards (birthday and Christmas).

- With thanks to Barbara England for photos and information