ben tilley enlisted in the 1/5th manchesters on 29th January 1914,as pte 1775 he was employed as a labourer at the lambs iron works,after war was declared,he sailed for egypt on 21-7-15 sent to gallipoli on 23-7-15 and posted to A.coy,during the Gallipoli campaign,ben was shot in the left temple on 4th june,he was evacuated to mudros on 26-10-15 with dysentary and on 4th December put aboard the hospital ship mauretania for england,after some time in hospital he was discharged from the army as completely unfit for any service on 2nd October 1916.
doctors stated that he could barely hear from his right ear and completely deaf in the left ear,his speech was unintelligible,they said that ben was unable to earn any kind of living,ben was illiterate which added to his difficulties to communicate.
john had married Catherine mason on 27th October 1906,they had a son john,catherine died in 1913 leaving ben to raise his son.
some time after the armistice,ben joined the labour corps as pte 701289 ben tilley and went to france,his unit was employed on burial concentrations for cement house cemetery in the langemark area,on 20th October 1919,he and his section lit a fire to prepare their midday meal,right on top of a buried shell,ben and six others were killed when it exploded,three others were wounded,all are buried in cement house cemetery.
pte 1775 ben tilley.53 mill end,wigan
