Robert Shackleton

War Service

Robert was enlisted in the Royal Regiment of Artillery (Royal Horse Artillery & Reg. of Field Artillery) on 28/12/1915 and assigned the service number 111905.
Although his records are sparse a description on his medical report states that he was 5ft 4 inches tall, weighed 132 lbs and had a chest measurement of 37 inches. He had two distinguishing marks - a scar on his abdomen and a scar on the outside right thigh.
"According to military historian John Terraine in his excellent “White Heat – the new warfare 1914-18”, "The war of 1914-18 was an artillery war: artillery was the battle winner: artillery was what caused the greatest loss of life, the most dreadful wounds and the deepest fear”.
However, it would seem that Robert was never posted overseas and so was not entitled to medal awards.
His battery was most probably engaged in coastal defences.
On 30/01/1916 Robert was subject to disciplinary proceedings whilst based in Norwich with the 38th R. Battery. His misdemeanour was that ‘whilst on active service he committed a nuisance at 10.10 p.m.’ for which he was confined to barracks for 2 days.
He was discharged from the army on demobilisation subject to paragraph 302 XXVIII of the King’s
Regulations and placed on the ‘Z’ list on 28/01/1919. This simply means he was no longer required for active service but could be recalled in case of further hostilities.

Family Life

Robert was another serviceman who was a ‘comer-in’ to Brotherton. He was born in Cliviger near Burnley in 1894 and his parents were James and Margaret Ann.
Their background is unclear, Margaret being born in Halifax (1871) whilst his father was born ‘at sea’ (1871).
In 1911 they were living at 7 Prospect terrace, South Kirkby and Robert was the survivor of two children born to the couple.
James was a ‘Colliery deputy’ whilst Robert was employed as a ‘Pony Driver - Underground’.
Very little else is known of the family except for the fact that in 1913 Robert married Lily Morton of Brotherton.
Lily was the daughter of Aaron Morton and Caroline nee Richardson. The Richardson’s were a large
Brotherton family.
On enlisting in the army Robert gave his place of residence as Brotherton so it would seem that he moved into the village after 1911 and probably after his marriage to Lily.
After the War - very little is known of Robert’s life after demobilisation. It is presumed he returned to Brotherton but, as there are no other records of him in the village, probably moved on.
Birth records show that a Shackleton/Morton union produced four children registered in Hemsworth - Maise (1920), James (1924), Frank (1927) and Albert (1930 - 1930). These were the only children in the 1916 - 2005 database to match the search criteria.
Also registered in Hemsworth was the death of a Lily Shackleton (born 1893) in 1956. No record was found for Robert Shackleton in the same district but deaths for Robert Shackleton (1973) and Lily
Shackleton (1947) were registered in Halifax.
Although it is not clear the registrations in Hemsworth seem probable given that Robert’s family were last recorded (1911) in South Kirkby which is just a few miles from Hemsworth, indicating he may have moved back there. The Halifax entries cannot, however, be totally disregarded given his mother’s connection with the area and this was the only entry on the 1816-2005 database to match search criteria.