Scholes and World War I

War was declared between Great Britain and Germany on at 11-00pm on the 4th August 1914 and between Great Britain and Austria-Hungary on 10th August the same year. A popular thought was that it would be over by Christmas, but in fact the war lasted until November of 1918. Armistice Day, the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month is still observed to this day. Military losses during the war from this country alone are estimated to be:

- 658,700 killed
- 359,150 missing
- 2,032,150 wounded (1)

It has often been said that not a village in England remained untouched by the war, and indeed a familiar site in most is a war memorial. On it are the names of the people from the location who fell in the conflict. Locally, there are memorials in Thorpe Hesley, Wentworth and Harley, and the main memorial in Clifton Park, Rotherham. Scholes itself has no war memorial, but that does not mean that Scholes was untouched by the war.

Scholes then was part of the Wentworth Fitzwilliam Estate. The village consisted of 75 houses (2), and the population numbered just over 300. (3)

To date, the names of 6 people from Scholes who fell in this war have been identified. It is possible that there are more.

- Private Arthur Percy Cooper
- Lance Corporal Ernest Emmerson
- Private Arthur Sanderson
- Sergeant William Wood
- Acting Sergeant Melvin Law

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(1) firstworldwar.com
(2) Survey under the terms of the Finance Act 1910
(3) Census 1901 excluding Scholes Lane
(4) Commonwealth War Graves Reference l A 52
(5) Commonwealth War Graves Reference XXXVI G.14
(6) Commonwealth War Graves Reference ll C 10
(7) Commonwealth War Graves Reference ll B 7