218221 Pte. Archibald Joseph Swalwell MM.British Army 1st/9th Durham Light Infantry from:30 Humber Street, Chopwell, Co Durham Archibald Joseph Swalwell was born on 17th April 1885 in Stokesley Yorkshire the son of William Swalwell and his wife Agnes nee Fairley. He enlisted at Chopwell, County Durham on the 2nd September 1914 having previously served with the Durham Light Infantry between 1903 and 1907 as volunteer.
Archibald was 29 years old when he enlisted and was a miner married to Nina Jane and had three children. They lived at 30 Humber Street Chopwell. He stood 5 feet 8 inches in height and had an expanded chest of 36 inches. He enlisted as a private in the 9th Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry (TF), who’s ‘F’ Company was based in Chopwell, and his regimental number was 2645. On the day the battalion sailed for France Archibald transferred into 1/9th which could suggest that he had previously trained with the 2/9th battalion. The 1/9th Battalion landed at Boulogne on the 20th April 1915 and joined the 151st Brigade, 50th Northumbrian Division.
Archibald was gazetted on the 27th October 1916 for the award of the Military Medal which it is believed he was awarded for his actions on 1st July 1916 at the beginning of the Battle of the Somme but no details have currently been found detailing this award.
In April 1917 he was renumbered to 323510. On the 15th October 1917 he was appointed as an unpaid lance corporal and on the 12th December 1917 he was promoted to (paid) corporal.
In February 1918 he had a medical problem, although it does not appear to be a wound. He was evacuated and treated by a Field Ambulance, 17 Casualty Clearing Station at Remy Siding (at Lijssenthoek near Poperinge in Flanders) and then 18 General Hospital at Camiers. He re-joined his unite on the 5th April 1918.
On the 16th August 1918 Archibald suffered an injury to his right ankle whilst the battalion was on the move, in the area of Authie-St-Leger. In the dark he stepped into a hole on the road and the next man also fell onto him. Judging from the fact that it took him home and eventually to a disablement pension the injury was severe.
He was evacuated to Number 32 Stationary Hospital at Wimereux but was also treated at the Number 83 (Dublin) General Hospital at Boulogne where an X-ray revealed a double fracture of the ankle. He returned to England on the 6th October 1918. On arrival he was admitted to Norfolk War Hospital at Thorpe, Norwich and then to the Red Cross Hospital at Kirstead. During his stay at the latter he finally received his Military Medal on the 22nd October 1918.
He was discharged from hospital on the 30th November 1918 and was pronounced fit for home leave and then returned to duty with his regiment’s 5th Reserve Battalion, a training unit based at Sutton-on-Hull. A Medical Board held at Newcastle on the 10th December 1918 stated that he had no disability resulting from his injury and recommended that he be demobilised and disembodied. However he was medically examined for a disability pension at Sutton-on-Hull on the 22nd December 1918. He was assessed as being 40% disabled by his injury and was awarded an initial pension of 12 shillings a week from the date of his release. This was to be reviewed after 39 weeks.
He was disembodied on the 25th January 1919 at the Number 1 Dispersal Unit at North Camp, Ripon, North Yorkshire. It appears that the pension was not extended after the initial 39 weeks was he was paid a supplementary gratuity of £5 in December 1919.
After the war Archibald continued to live in Chopwell and working at Chopwell Colliery. In November 1926, along with other miners from Chopwell, he sailed to the United States to work as a miner in the deep anthracite mines of Pennsylvania.
Archibald died in a mining accident on the 8th April 1928 at the Jermyn Mine in Scranton, Pennsylvania aged 43 years old.
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