SOLDIERS from Guiseley who helped halt the German advance at a critical time in the First World War are being remembered in a new book about their regiment.

The men, w ho were members of the 1/6th Duke of Wellingtons (West Riding) Regiment started the war as Territorials but went on to become battle hardened troops. Guiseley Terriers - a Small part in the Great War has been written by retired police officer and former solder Stephen Barber. The book will be available from www.pen-and-sword.co.uk at the end of July. A donation will be made to the Guiseley branch of the Royal British Legion for each copy sold.

Men were originally recruited to the regiment from Barnoldswick, Bingley, Guiseley, Haworth, Keighley, Settle and Skipton.

Mr Barber said: “ I started researching the 1/6th Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding) Regiment due to the connection with Guiseley and came across a stained-glass window in the south wall of St Oswald’s Church in Guiseley which commemorates Lieutenant Malcolm Law of the 1/6th DWR and the men of the 49th and 62nd Divisions who died in the Great War.

“I viewed a copy of the battalions ‘war diary’, which is a daily record of the unit’s activity, casualties and combat actions, and began to transcribe the document for my own information.

“I then looked in to the 25th Volunteer Rifle Corps (VRC) formed in 1860 in Guiseley which was the original predecessor unit of the 1/6th DWR. VRC units were part-time organisations formed across the UK due to the perceived invasion threat from a resurgent France under Emperor Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte.”

Among the Guiseley men who lost their lives was Lance Corporal George Maude, who won the Military Medal for bravery, and who died just ten days before the Armistice. Mr Barber paid tribute to him by laying a wreath on his grave

at Saultain Communal Cemetery, near Valenciennes in France.

Another Guiseley man who died in action was Serjeant John Bulmer Jackson who was killed on July 24 in 1918. He had already left the Territorials before the outbreak of war but re-joined and volunteered to serve overseas. He is buried in Marfaux British Cemetery alongside 790 of his comrades. Marfaux marked the furthest point of the German advance in July 1918.

John was a prominent member of the St Oswald’s bell ringers and after he died a half-muffled peal was rung in his memory.