Joseph Whitworth joined the Pals around June 1915 from the 1st / 4th (T.F.) Battalion of the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, becoming the Bandmaster for the 11th Battalion of the East Lancashire Regiment; he would have probably served as a Stretcher Bearer. Records showed that he was the Conductor of the 4th Loyal North Lancs. (Territorial) Band, as well as the North Lancs. (Chorley) Band. With the latter, he led the Chorley Pals to the railway station on the 23rd February 1915 as they left the town for Caernarvon.
Joseph Whitworth was born in Littleborough near Rochdale in 1871, the son of Richard and Elizabeth. The Census records over the years showed him at 27 Damside Street in Lancaster in 1881 and a Solicitor’s Clerk living with his parents at 5 Caton Street at Blackburn in 1891. He married Caroline Jane Blunt at St. Peter’s Church in Accrington in 1894 and by 1901 Joseph was a Solicitor’s Clerk living at 4 Regents Road in Chorley with his wife and two daughters. Ten years later, the 1911 Census records him as being a Cashier and living at 66 Devonshire Road in Chorley, with the addition of a son, John Blunt Whitworth (aged 2).
Other Information: In his book on the history of the Accrington Pals, Bill Turner records that Lt. Colonel Rickman invited Joe Whitworth to be his Bandmaster, giving him the honorary rank of Lieutenant.
