A BATTLE of the big guns led to the death of Haworth soldier Isaac Chester Jackson.

Isaac was a Gunner with the 180th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, when he was killed at the age of 21 in early 1918.

The peacetime mechanic had already spent two years on the frontlines in France after joining up in 1915 while living in Mytholmes.

One night in March, Isaac was manning an artillery battery pounding the German lines at the same time as the Germans were firing shells at the Allies’ trenches.

An enemy shell exploded behind Isaac’s cannon and killed him instantaneously.

In a letter to his mother Mary, the commanding officer said Isaac “served his gun under the most intense enemy fire that could be brought to bear against our battery.

“He was very gallant soldier, and had served his gun to the last. He displayed great coolness.”

Isaac was born in 1896 in Westmorland and at the age of four was living in Haworth.

A decade later mother Mary was working as a weaver in a worsted mill for a dress manufacturer, while 14-year old Isaac was a spinning frame maker for worsted spinning.

He went on to train as a mechanic at Keighley engineers Hattersley, Sons and Company.