A/Cpl 57675 Leslie Stray

• Age: 25
• From: Basford, Nottinghamshire
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 18th Btn
• K.I.A Monday 23rd April 1917
• Commemorated at: Arras Memorial
  Panel Ref: Bay 3

Leslie Stray was born in the summer of 1891 in Basford, Nottinghamshire the son of Horatio Nelson Stray and his wife and Ada (nee Tomlinson) who were both born in Basford, and married there in 1891. Leslie was the first of two children. His sister Ida was born in 1896.

Leslie was the first of two children, his sister Ida was born in 1896.When he was born, his parents were living with his paternal grandparents and his father is a dairyman. 

In 1901, his parents and sister Ida, age 5, are living at 11 Radford Road, Hyson Green, Nottinghamshire. Leslie is not found on the census.

In 1905 and 1906 his father is listed in the Nottingham city directory at 25 Betinck Road.

In 1906 his father emigrated to Philadelphia, where he had an uncle. He died there in 1923.

It is not clear what became of his mother, but by the time of the 1911 Census, Leslie is living with his uncle and aunt, Joseph and Ellen Carnill, at 20 Peveril Street, Nottingham. He is 19, and employed as a draper’s assistant. His sister Ida, 15, is living with their maternal grandmother Ann Tomlinson, in Nottingham.

Leslie enlisted in Nottingham, as Private 224, Army Cyclist Corps, and subsequently transferred to 18^th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment. He was serving as Acting Corporal 57675 when he was killed in action on 23rd April, 1917 aged 25.

On that day the Battalion had occupied old German Trenches at Henniel on the Arras sector of the front. In the evening, it moved to a sunken road to support an attack by the 18th and 19th Battalion’s of the Manchester Regiment. Elements of the Pals were to provide mopping up parties for both the Manchester Battalions, who were to move forward at 18.00pm. However, as the orders were not received until 17.45pm,it proved impossible to join the Manchester’s in time for their attack and the mopping up parties followed from where they presumed that the assaulting waves had left.

By this time, the German retaliatory barrage had begun, and the British Front Line was so heavily shelled, that the Battalion took up position in the shell holes in front. As the situation was chaotic, some troops on the right flank had begun to pullback, it was decided to withdraw to the British front line under cover of darkness to consolidate. Eventually, by morning the position became clearer, and the Battalion was able to move forward to occupy the old front line which had been vacated by the Germans, who had retired over the next crest.

Altogether the Battalion’s losses were four officers and one hundred and one other ranks, killed, wounded or missing.

Leslie's body was not recovered from the battlefield and his name is recorded on the Arras Memorial in France. 
 
The ARRAS MEMORIAL commemorates almost 35,000 servicemen from the United Kingdom, South Africa and New Zealand who died in the Arras sector between the spring of 1916 and 7 August 1918, the eve of the Advance to Victory, and have no known grave. The most conspicuous events of this period were the Arras offensive of April-May 1917, and the German attack in the spring of 1918. Canadian and Australian servicemen killed in these operations are commemorated by memorials at Vimy and Villers-Bretonneux. A separate memorial remembers those killed in the Battle of Cambrai in 1917. Both cemetery and memorial were designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, with sculpture by Sir William Reid Dick. The memorial was unveiled by Lord Trenchard, Marshal of the Royal Air Force on the 31 July 1932 (originally it had been scheduled for 15 May, but due to the sudden death of French President Doumer, as a mark of respect, the ceremony was postponed until July).

Soldiers’ Effects shows his beneficiary as his married sister Ida Clifford. She went on to have a son, born in 1923 whom she named after Leslie.

We currently have no further information on Leslie Stray, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.