Pte 17358 Philip Haydn

• Age: 22
• From: Waterloo, Liverpool
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 19th Btn
• K.I.A Thursday 28th March 1918
• Commemorated at: Pozieres Memorial
  Panel Ref: P21-23

Philip Haydn Watson was born on the 11th June 1895 at 5 Adelaide Terrace, Waterloo, to widowed mother Eliza Watson. His birth certificate shows his mother is of "independent means".

On the 1881 Census in Bridge St, Whitby, Eliza was the 17 year old daughter of William B. and Maria Horne.

Philip enlisted at St George's Hall in Liverpool on 04/09/1914 joining the 19th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment as Private 17358. He gave  his age as 19 years and 86 days and his occupation  as a Clerk. He is described as being 5'5 inches tall and weighed 128lbs being of fresh complexion with grey eyes, brown hair and a scar on his right cheek. He stated his religion as Presbyterian. There are no records held of relations but he listed his next of kin as Miss E. Kelly of 107 Albert Edward Road, Kensington, Liverpool. This is Elizabeth Winifred Kelly, the only daughter of Edward and Elizabeth Kelly of that address.

Formed on 07^th September 1914 the 19^th Battalion trained locally at Sefton Park and remained living at home or in rented accommodation until November 1914. They then moved to the hutted accommodation at Lord Derby’s estate at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 19th Battalion alongside the other three Pals battalions left Liverpool via Prescot Station for further training at Belton Park, Grantham. They remained here until September 1915 when they reached Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain. 

Philip appears to have had a chequered career in the Army.  On 19th December 1914, at Knowsley, he received punishment for not complying with an order. Further on 12th August 1915, at Belton Park, he was confined to barracks for 7 days again for not complying with an order. 

He arrived in France on 07th November 1915 and on 01st December 1915 he forfeited 5 days pay for losing his oil bottle and pull through. He was wounded on 25th January 1916, this being a shrapnel wound and gun shot wound to the right thigh, which resulted in his hospitalisation at No.9 General Hospital in Rouen. He rejoined his Pals in the 19th Battalion on 29th May 1916. He was treated at a Field Ambulance on 01st August 1916 for a septic leg which resulted in him being hospitalised again at Rouen. He rejoined his Battalion on 20th September 1916. He received further treatment at a Field Ambulance for two days from 27th December 1916 due to ICT right foot. 

On 31st July 1917 he was given 28 days Field Punishment No.1 for being absent from a carrying fatigue. Whether this was actually carried out is doubtful given this was the time the Battle for Passchendaele had begun. He was granted 10 days leave to the UK from 05th September 1917.

Philip was killed in action on the 28^th March, 1918 during the German Spring Offensive.

The Battalion diary records the events of the day as follows:

During the morning the enemy attacked the troops on our right flank and succeeded in capturing ARVILLERS, menacing our right flank. Three companies of the Battalion had to be immediately echeloned backwards as protection, the Battalion engaging the enemy, who were attempting to come out of ARVILLERS. This position was held during heavy fighting until 2pm when the Battalion was informed that French troops had come into position in the rear. In order for the Division to be relieved the Battalion had to hold their ground whilst the 2^nd Bedfordshire Regt and 2^nd Bn. R.S.F.’s passed through on their way to the rear. At 4pm the Battalion commenced to move off in small parties, passing through the French, and marching through MEZIERES, MOREUIL to MORISEL where hot dinner was provided. The Battalion then formed up and moved up by companies to ROUVREL and were billeted for the night. By this time the total casualties had reached 23 Officers and 457 O.R.

Philip's body was not recovered from the battlefield or was subsequently lost as his name is recorded on the Pozieres Memorial in France.

The POZIERES MEMORIAL relates to the period of crisis in March and April 1918 when the Allied Fifth Army was driven back by overwhelming numbers across the former Somme battlefields, and the months that followed before the Advance to Victory, which began on 8 August 1918. The Memorial commemorates over 14,000 casualties of the United Kingdom and 300 of the South African Forces who have no known grave and who died on the Somme from 21 March to 7 August 1918.

The cemetery and memorial were designed by W.H. Cowlishaw, with sculpture by Laurence A. Turner. The memorial was unveiled by Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien on 4 August 1930.

Such was the ferocity of the fighting his death was not recorded in the weekly casualty lists until 21st May 1918. 

It was requested that any personal effects or medals be sent to Miss Mary Jane Currie. She received Phillip's personal effects, postcards and photographs on 05th July 1918. Mary Jane Currie was most probably a sweetheart, a domestic for the well to do Barrow family, Sugar refiners who lived at 7 Beach Lawn, Waterloo, Liverpool.