Bernard, his sister, and older brother, William, used to live with their father at the family home at 154 Newbridge Lane, Stockport. William had married and now lived with his wife but the two brothers continued to work together as cotton doublers at Spur Mill.

Very little is known about Bernard military service except that he is understood to have enlisted in October 1914. He was killed in action on a day when his Battery will have been bombarding  the enemy trenches in preparation for the opening day of the Battle of the Somme scheduled for 1 July. He was, no doubt, killed by retaliatory fire