OBADIAH Peacock spent his first 10 months of army life in the safety of Ireland after enlisting in 1914.

But fate eventually caught up with the Haworth driver and he was killed three years later on the bloody fields of France.

Obadiah was born in 1887 in Reeth and spent his formative years in Arkengarthdale where his father was a lead ore smelter.

By the age of 14 Obadiah was living in Prince Street, Haworth, with his parents and six siblings.

In 1910, in his early 20s, he married Katherine Walsh and continued to live in Haworth were the pair had an infant son.

Obadiah entered the Army Service Corps a driver and was sent to France in December 1915.

Almost two years later, while serving with the East Lancashire Regiment, the 30-year-old soldier was killed.

Obadiah’s fate is recorded simply as “killed in action”, with few clues in the battalion war diary which over the previous five days recorded heavy shelling, a visit by the Brigadier, and an SOS sent by troops to the left of the frontline.

Obadiah has no known final resting place and he is remembered on the Haworth War Memorial in Bridgehouse Lane and the Haworth Cycling Club memorial.