Private Robert Henry Heys
241677 1/5th East Lancashire Regiment
Died 28th April 1917
Lived at 8 Bank Street, Barnoldswick
Commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, France
Burnley Express 7th July 1917

Robert is to the right of the soldier identified with a cross

The information below is now incorporated into the computer database at the Thiepval Visitor Centre

Private 241677, 1/5th Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment
Died 28th April 1917, aged 40
Born in Bacup, Lancashire.
Son of William James and Sarah Ann Heys (nee Abbott).
Husband of Elizabeth Annie Throup. Had one daughter Elsie.
Lived at 8 Bank Street, Barnoldswick.
Employed as a weaver at Messrs. Brown and Bailey’s, Long Ing, Barnoldswick.
Attended Bethesda Baptist Church.
Enlisted at Nelson, Lancashire in 1915.
Killed by machine gun or sniper fire in Canal Wood, to the east of Epehy.


Robert, Elizabeth and Elsie
Craven Herald and Pioneer, Skipton, 1917
“The relatives of Private Robert Henry Heys, East Lancashire Regiment, reported missing on April 28th, 1917, have been notified that he was killed in action on that date. He was 40 years of age and a native of Bacup, but had resided in Barnoldswick at 8 Bank Street for 10 years prior to his voluntary enlistment in 1915. He served for a short time in Egypt before going to France where he had only been about 10 weeks when he met his death in the first action that he took part. He leaves a wife and one child now residing in Bacup. Private Heys was formerly a weaver at Messrs. Brown and Bailey’s, Long Ing, Barnoldswick, and attended Bethesda Baptist Church”.

His only brother Private James Edward Heys, 15760, 11th Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment, died on 26th June 1916, aged 35, also to sniper fire.

He was married to Mary Green and lived at 2 Whalley Street, Burnley Lane. They had a son born in 1900. Employed as a weaver at Ferndale Mill, he enlisted as one of the original members of the Burnley and Accrington Pals in 1914 and had served in Egypt.

He is buried in grave 1.D.18 in Bertrancourt Military Cemetery.

Source: Geoffrey Heys Hall (Grandson), 30th July 2005