GLUSBURN soldier Lewis Binns, serving on the frontline in France, had a visit from his brother-in-law in late summer 1916.

The West Riding Regiment soldier enjoyed catching up with his wife’s brother George Bland, whose own regiment had recently been sent to the Western Front.

No doubt the two men compared conditions in the boggy trenches with George’s previous postings in the more exotic climes of the Dardanelles and Egypt.

George was never to see his brother-in-law again, and neither was his sister Hannah, for Lewis was killed the following day by an enemy shell.

Lewis had married 20-year-old Hannah Mariah Hustler in Sutton in July 1900 while he was still a teenager and working as a quarry man.

Lewis had been born in 1800, growing up in Cowling before moving to live with Hannah and her parents in Glusburn.

By 1910 the couple were living elsewhere in the village with daughter Ivy and son Herbert, and had lost their first born child, Gladys.

Lewis joined the West Riding Regiment as a private in April 1915, going to the front 12 months later and, within six months, dying from a wound through his neck.

Originally posted as missing, his body was found by a search party six days later.