THE deaths of two Askam men on the same day in one of the almost-forgotten military struggles of the First World War has been commemorated in the village.

Candles were lit in a special ceremony at the Askam and Ireleth war memorial to mark 100 years since the death in battle of William Relph and William Kellett on February 9 in 1917.

They died in what was called the Mesopotamia campaign and were part of the 6th Battalion of the King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment which was called on to attack Turkish positions on the Dahra Bend of the Tigris River.

In the confusion of battle, the bodies of the two Askam soldiers were not recovered and they are both named on the Basra Memorial in Iraq.

Research by Peter Donnelly, curator of the King's Own Collection at the City Museum, Lancaster, shows that the 6th Battalion was involved in a major action on February 9.

The attack started just after 10am and faced stiff resistance.

The battalion advanced and held its new positions until noon, when the enemy counter attacked and pushed them back.

The fighting went on all day and at 8pm the enemy launched an attack on British lines, which were held and it was not until 3am on the 10th that things settled down and it was realised that the enemy had been cleared out of their trench.

The 6th Battalion had three officers killed and five wounded.

Of the other ranks, there were 42 killed, 136 wounded, and 10 missing.

It was a day of heavy losses for the 6th Battalion, which went on to take part in the operations which would see the occupation of Baghdad the following month.

Cpt Amarinder Singh wrote about the role of Indian troops in the book Honour and Fidelity and noted the role of the King’s Own at the Dahra Bend.

He writes: “On February 9, the day broke fine, though the wind and clouds indicated rain.

“The 6th King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment, the battalion of the 38 th Brigade detailed to make the assault, came under heavy shell-fire from their right as soon as they emerged from their trenches to traverse the 450 yards or so that separated them from the Turkish line.

“But their fine advance soon achieved its object; and although their bombing parties to the front and flanks could make little progress in the face of the stout opposition encountered, they held on tenaciously to what they had gained and beat off several Turkish counter-attacks.”

Research by the Askam and Ireleth History Group shows that Pte William Ralph was the son of Nancy Cottier of 14 Sharp Street, Askam and the late Thomas Relph.

Before the war William worked at Roanhead Mines as a labourer.

He had been in the army for two years and was wounded in France during the advance on the Somme and invalided home.

His father had been killed in an accident at Roanhead iron ore mine and formerly kept the Farmers Arms, Ireleth.

Pte William Kellett was the oldest son of Agnes and William Kellett of 91 Steel Street Askam and was one of the first lads to join up from Askam.

Newspaper reports described him as "A fine young fellow, a good, honest and true workman."

He was invalided home after being injured at Salonika and was in hospital in Liverpool, when he recovered he was sent to Mesopotamia.

In the 1911 census William was 15 and working as a farm servant at Low Longmire, Windermere, for Benjamin Kidd.

At that time William's family was living at 16 Marsh Street. His father, originally from Barrow, was working as an iron ore miner and his mother was from Scotland.

Also living at Marsh Street was their son Lancelot James Kellett, who was 18 and working at Vickers as a labourer and daughters Agnes, Jane Elizabeth and Annie.

His maternal grandmother Jane Miller was a widow and lived with the family.