Joseph Barratt was born to single parent Emma Barratt. . He was born at Edgmond near to Newport, Shrop shire on 23 rd May 1897 and grew up at Outwoods in the home of his grandparents Ri chard and Mary Barratt. He attended the village school at Moreton until he was 14 years old, and worked as a brickl aye r’s labourer . The coming o f war i n Augu st 1914 changed everything there was a great need for young m en t o join the colours to fight . H e enlisted i n Newport Shropshire o n 9 t h Decem ber .1915, aged 18 . Following a period of training he was posted t o the 4 th Battalion North Staffordshire Reg iment. The 4 th North Staf fs although raised in 1914 did not g o to France until October 1917, bu t from then on , the battalion was involved in very serious fighti ng, part icularly i n March 1918 when they helped to hold the line against a massive Ger man onslaught and aga i n in Sep tember . On 29 th September 1918 i n heavy fighting near the village o f Z andvoord e in Belgi um, a n attack o n the Germans was a success, though during this one da y o f fighting, al most 20 0 soldiers o f the 4 th North Staffs were killed, including the 21 years old Joseph Barratt. Private Joseph Barratt is buried close to where he fell in what is now Zandvoorde British Cem etery .

Joseph Bar ratt

Private 25206 – 4 th Battalion, North Staffor dshi re Regi men t Ki lled in Ac tion 29 th September 19 18 Buri ed in Zandv o orde Briti s h Cem etery

Zantvoorde British Cemet ery Historical Informatio n On 30 October 1914, the village of Z antvoorde (now Zandvoorde) w as hel d by the 1st and 2nd Life Guards , numbering between 300 and 400 men. It was bombarded for ov er an hour with heavy guns and then taken by the 39th Ger man Division and three attached battalions. The whole front of the 3rd Cavalry Division was driven back to the Klein - Zillebeke ridge. The village could not be retak en and remai ned in German hands until 28 September 1918. The Household Cavalry Memorial, unveiled by Lor d Haig in May 1924, stands on the So uth side of the village at the place where part of the Brigade was annihilated in 1914 . Zantvoorde British Cemetery was made after the Armistice when remains were brought in from the bat tlefields and nearby G erman cemeteries. Many were those of s oldiers who died in the desperate fighting round Zantvoorde, Zillebeke and Gheluvelt in the latter part of October 191 4. There are now 1,583 servicemen of the First World W ar buried or commemorated in the cemetery . 1,135 of the burials are unidentified. Special memorials commemorate 32 soldiers buried in tw o of the Ger man cemeteries whos e graves could not be found on concentration. The cemetery also contains one Second W orld W ar burial.