Wrelton had three soldiers who died in the First World War.  While the village itself has no memorial, their names appear under Wrelton on the memorial outside Pickering’s Memorial Hall and on one in Middleton Church. The three were Aubrey Adams,  Michael Edward Allan and Albert Shaw. 

 Aubrey Adams was born at Lingcroft, near Naburn, York in 1894, was a dairyman in Harrogate on the 1911 census but some time after 1911 the family were in Aislaby. The army documentation sometimes gives Aislaby and sometimes Wrelton as his home. Private Adams, 24340,served in the 5th Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment. He died of wounds on 2nd April 1918, aged 24 and is buried in Namps au Val British cemetery in the Somme district of France. He does not seem to have been married and his mother, Elizabeth, is named as next of kin and received his belongings. After she died in 1930, her husband, Thomas,  continued to receive 6 shillings per week pension until his death in 1935.

Michael Edward Allen (sometimes spelt Allan), was born in Wrelton and baptised (Allen)  in Middleton Church on 25th April 1884. His parents were Tom and Sarah Ann. He does not appear on the 1901 census but on 26th November 1903, age 18, enlisted in the Yorkshire Regt. in Pickering. His Short Service document committed him to 3 years with the colours and in June 1911 he married Alice Hill in Helmsley. Serving with the 4th Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment, Private Allan, 7562, died on 17th (some documents say 16th) September 1916. He is buried in Dernancourt Communal Cemetery Extension in the Somme district of France. Alice and three daughters(until they were 16) received a pension. In 1916 they lived at 50 Albany St. Middlesbrough. In 1939 Alice, age 50, was living at 197 Crescent Road, Middlesbrough. 

Guardsman Albert William Shaw of the Welsh Guards died on 22nd February 1919 in Aldershot. I believe he was in a military hospital there but am awaiting confirmation of this and hopefully,  details of where and how he was injured. He was born in Hull, probably in 1888, was a joiner and probably moved to Wrelton about the time of his marriage to Lydia Ringrose in Middleton Church on 25th August 1913. By 1916 he had been called up but his employer, Mr R Surnett appealed on the grounds that, as a timber feller, he was “indispensable” . The appeal was dismissed on 2nd September  1916. His pension record shows that, after Lydia’s death in 1918, her mother, Mrs Ann Ringrose, a widow from 1936, received the pension until her death.