These are the stories of the real men behind the characters in the dramatisation - meet the Salford Pals:

Walter Fiddes
Private Walter Fiddes of the 1st Eccles Pals, lived in Eccles with his widowed mother and enlisted in October 1914 joining 8 Platoon, B Company, 16th Lancashire Fusiliers; he was Captain Thomas Tweed’s orderly. He was killed trying to get orders to retreat on 1st July 1916 aged 29.

His obituary appeared in the Eccles and Patricroft Journal on 11th August 1916 and contained extracts from a letter written by Captain Tweed which had been sent to Fiddes relatives in which he stated that Fiddes had been shot through both legs with machine gun bullets, but was dragged under a bank and bandaged. When the surviving members of the Company retired he appeared to have been hit again and was unconscious. A number of wounded were lying in the open and the enemy later in the afternoon riddled them with bullets. Another attack was made by fresh troops with no better success and some hundreds of bodies lay in the open and it was impossible to identify any of them. An attempt made after dark to bring in wounded cost ten brave fellows their lives without a single man being brought in. Captain Tweed describes Private Fiddes as one of the finest as he was one of the bravest of his men and says his death is to him a great personal grief. He was proud to have him in his company and of the personal contact which their duties brought.

Stephen Sharples
Corporal Stephen Sharples of the Eccles Pals Company, Lancashire Fusiliers. was single and lived in Eccles. He was killed on 1st July 1916, aged 33 years.

His obituary appeared in the Eccles and Patricroft Journal on 28th July 1916, in which it was stated “Corporal Sharples was reported wounded and missing after the advance on July 1st. There appears, unhappily, but small hope of Sharples being alive, as Captain Tweed reports to an Eccles friend that he was shot down in a valiant attempt to run the gauntlet of German machine-gun fire and bring relief to comrades sheltering behind a bank. Sharples was a single man, 33 years of age and the only son of his father, whose hopes were linked with the son carrying on his business as builder. Sharples was home on furlough from France about Easter, confident in the growing strength of the Allies and proud of the local company of which he was a unit. In their great sorrow and trouble Councillor and Mrs Sharples, have received numberless expressions of sympathy and regret”.

Thomas Mellor
Lance-Corporal Thomas Mellor of the 1st Eccles Pals had recently married on 21st August 1915. He was killed on 1st July 1916, aged 24 years.

His obituary appeared in the Eccles and Patricroft Journal on 11th August 1916: “Lance-Corpl T. Mellor of the 1st Eccles Pals who is officially reported “wounded and missing” has presumably shared the fate of his comrades who set out to storm the first line of German trenches on the morning of July 1st. The only news that has come to hand since is that of comrades, who saw him fall and were themselves withdrawn later in the day. Mellor, who was recently married, is the only son of Mr and Mrs T.E. Mellor. His life long pals, Sharples and Fiddes with whom he enlisted, shared whatever his fate has been”.

Thomas Tweed
Captain Thomas F. Tweed, aged 26, was the commander of B Company of the 2nd Salford Pals.
Tweed had a good relationship with his men and had been involved with them since recruitment. He kept in touch with his men’s families via letter and had written reports on the Pals' activities since he arrived in France. He wrote a detailed account of the attack on the German stronghold of Thiepval on 1st July 1916.

Captain Tweed survived the war and was awarded the Military Cross and went on to become chief-of-staff and political adviser to Lloyd George. He died on 30th April 1940 at the age of 50.

Content last updated: 17/05/2006