01/06/2026
A Bible belonging to a soldier of a Pals Battalion.
Arthur Shipley was born in 1888 in Outwood, Wakefield, Yorkshire. Prior to the war, he worked as an Assistant Draper for T.B. & W. Cockayne of Sheffield.
Arthur enlisted in Sheffield in 1914 at the age of 26 with the York & Lancaster Regiment, 12th (Sheffield City) Battalion. The Sheffield City Battalion was a pals battalions raised in 1914.
This Bible was presented to Private Arthur Shipley by the YMCA at Redmires Camp in January 1915. Redmires was a training camp for troops, and the battalion trained there for just over five months.
In December 1915, the battalion embarked for Alexandria, Egypt, due to the threat posed to the Suez Canal by the Turkish. As the threat faded, the pals battalion was sent to France, landing on 15th March 1916.
Just eighteen days after arriving in France, the battalion took over the line opposite the village of Serre, which would become their objective on the opening day of the Battle of the Somme.
On 1st July 1916, the battalion advanced on Serre, suffering heavy casualties. A Sheffield newspaper dated 13th July 1916 records that Arthur Shipley was wounded on the Somme.
Evidently, the Bible has seen some use due to the taped pages, but was it tucked inside Arthur’s tunic pocket at Serre on 1st July 1916?
Arthur survived the Somme and, by late 1916, had been promoted to Sergeant. He later served with various battalions of the York & Lancaster Regiment.
Arthur survived the war, although he suffered a gunshot wound to his right arm in February 1917.
Demobilised in 1919, Arthur returned home and would pass away in 1957.
It has been extremely interesting researching the story of Sergeant Arthur Shipley and being able to link this Bible to my visit to Sheffield Memorial Park on the Somme battlefields, as well as to the Old Front Line podcast by , which covers the story of the pals Battalions at Serre.
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