Peter Pemberton was born in Euxton in 1898 and would have been under-aged when he enlisted in the Pals at Chorley on the 21st September 1914.
A Roman Catholic, he attended St. Gregory’s on Weldbank. He was the son of William and Alice Pemberton of Spendmore Lane in Coppull, being recorded as living there on both the 1901 and 1911 Census returns. In 1911 he was working as a “Dodger” in a Bleachworks, although by the time he enlisted three years later he was working as a Collier (the same occupation as his father).
Peter ‘jumped ship’ from the S.S. Ionic at Port Said in on the 4th January 1916, being awarded 7 days Field Punishment No. 2. Later that year, on the 1st July, he was wounded in the left hand, back and lower leg at Serre, being admitted to the 94th Field Ambulance Station. He was transferred to the 2nd Canadian General Hospital on the 3rd July and was placed aboard the Hospital Ship Western Australia, eventually arriving at the 1st Scottish General Hospital in Aberdeen. He stayed there for treatment until the 8th November 1916, being posted to the 3rd (Depot) Battalion of the East Lancashire Regiment. He was transferred to the 23rd Battalion of the Cheshire Regiment on the 24th April 1917 as Private 65210.
He received a gun-shot wound to his back on the 18th February 1918, being initially treated at the 332nd Field Ambulance Station, before further treatment at the 1st Eastern General Hospital in Cambridge until the 16th April. He was then posted to the 24th (H.S.) Battalion of the Cheshire Regiment; at sometime he had been an Acting Lance Corporal but was recorded as being a Private when examined by a Medical Board on the 30th September 1918. They noted that he had an operating scar over his left kidney and scars between his second and third fingers on his left hand.
Peter was discharged from the Army on the 5th October 1918 with a gratuity of £52 10 s 0d. A Peter Pemeberton is recorded as marrying Jane Huyton in Chorley during 1924.