BORN – Tilley, nr Wem
HOMEFRONT – Place / Occupation / WMCanterbury Cathedral
JOB – Baker / Confectioner
UNIT – 1/1 Bn Kent Cyclist
RANK – Private 266507
THEATRE – Far East / Ferozepore, Lahore, Pakistan. 1/1 Bn Kent Cyclist. May 1919
DIED – Died of illness 17 May 1919. Aged 27.
BURIED – Karachi 1914-18 War Memorial. (Buried at Lahore Cantonment Cemetery). (CWGC)
Joseph Willoughby Darlington was born 1892 at Tilley near Wem, Shropshire. He was the fourth child of John and Louisa Darlington. His siblings were Cecil, Francis, Mabel, (HIM), Leonard, Mary and Sydney. They moved to Oswestry in about 1898/99 and lived at 10 Arthur Street. Their father worked as head Ostler and Coachman at an hotel. Joseph worked as a baker and confectioner. The family would later move to 74 Upper Church Street. By the time of the war Joseph was living and working in Colchester and lodging at 9 North Station Road.
Joseph enlisted at Colchester. He was attested in February 1916 and was mobilised in May. He was joined 3/1 Bn Kent Cyclists. a training and resrve battalion, and was posted to the 1/1 Kent Cyclist Battalion. The battalion had been reorganised as an infantry battalion in December 1915 and had gone out to India in February 1916, Joseph followed on, leaving Devonport in January 1917 and arriving at Bombay in March and joining the battalion at Ferozepore near to Lahore, in modern day Pakistan. The battalion remained in India until November 1919. In February 1919 Joseph was employed as a clerk in the 16 Divisional (Indian) Office at Ferozepore. He was taken ill and admitted to hospital at Lahore on 30 March 1919. By 22 April he was reported as seriously ill with appendicitis. His condition did not improve, by mid May he was dangerously ill and died 17 May 1919. He was buried in Lahore Cantonment Cemetery but he is commemorated on the Karachi 1914-18 War Memorial. The CWGC no longer maintain the cemetery at Lahore because of local difficulties and security. As with other CWGC graves in troubled northern Pakistan, the names were duplicated onto the Karachi Memorial. He is also commemorated on the 1/1 Bn Kent Cyclist Memorial at Canterbury Cathedral.
Joseph’s brothers also served. In a notice in the Border Counties Advertiser 28 June 1918 brother Frank (KSLI) had been wounded in March 1918 during the Kaiser Offensive and was a PoW in Germany. Another brother was in Salonika; another, possibly Leonard, served in 6 Bn KSLI who had been had been discharged; and the fifth, Sydney, who had turned 18 in 1918 and was to report on 1 July. All survived the war.
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