L/Cpl 16381 William Leyland

His brother Robert died the next year, in October 1902, at the age of 19.

 

His father, Edward, died in 1904, aged 59.

 

The 1911 census finds William, with his mother and sister Mary, at 7 Warbreck Avenue, off Walton Vale (it is still today, shop premises with living quarters above). His widowed mother is 57, a shopkeeper (sweets/general), working on her own account at home, and Mary, 17, assists in the shop. William is 25, employed as a coal merchant’s clerk.

 

His mother died the following year, in 1912, aged 59, and was buried in Kirkdale Cemetery with her husband and two sons.

 

By 1913 the family had moved to 26 Endborne Road, off Orrell Lane.

 

William enlisted at St George's Hall in Liverpool on 31st August 1914, joining the 18th Battalion of The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private 16381. He gave his age as 29 years and 60 days and his occupation as clerk. He was described as being 5’ 8” tall, weighing 126 lbs, 35” chest, with a fresh complexion, light blue eyes, and light brown hair. He gave his sister Mary at 26 Endborne Road as his next of kin, and stated his religion as Church of England. 

From the 23^rd September 1914 he was billeted at Hooton Park Race Course and remained there until 03^rd December 1914 when they moved into the hutted accommodation at Lord Derby’s estate at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 18th 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. 

William shipped to France with his battalion, disembarking at Boulogne on 07th November 1915.

From 18th to 31st May 1916 he was attached to the 30th Division Grenade School. 

 

He was appointed unpaid Lance Corporal on 02nd July 1916.

He was killed in action on the 19th October 1916, aged 31, during the Battle of the Transloy Ridges, which was part of the ongoing Somme Offensive.

18th Battn. War Diary – failed attack, wet weather, low morale, rifles inoperable by mud.  

GOOSE ALLEY

16.10.16 - Moved to support trenches West of GOOSE ALLEY.

17.10.16 - Moved to assembly trenches. 

18.10.16 - Attacked German trenches commencing 3 40 a.m. (account attached, also orders)

19.10.16 - Relieved by 19th Manchester Regiment - took up position in support Battalion trenches West of GOOSE ALLEY.

20.10.16 - Relieved 2nd Yorkshire Regiment in frontline trenches - weather wet. 

21.10.16 - In trenches - weather very wet and cold. Frost at night 

22.10.16 - Relieved by 55th Australian Regiment in trenches. Proceeded to POMMERS redoubt to bivouac. 

He was reported killed in the Liverpool Daily Post on Wednesday 29 November 1916:

King’s (Liverpool Regiment) - Leyland, 16381, Lce.-Cpl. W. ; 

His body was not recovered or was subsequently lost as he has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, France.

The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916. 

On 01st August 1932 the Prince of Wales and the President of France inaugurated the Thiepval Memorial in Picardy. The inscription reads: “Here are recorded the names of officers and men of the British Armies who fell on the Somme battlefields between July 1915 and March 1918 but to whom the fortune of war denied the known and honoured burial given to their comrades in death.”

William earned his three medals, which his sister Mary signed for in 1920 and 1921.

 

His Army effects of £3 15s 2d and a War Gratuity of £9 went to his sisters Mary and Jane.

His sister Mary living at 24 Trevor Road, Walton, (the next street to Endborne Road), received a Gratuity in lieu of a pension in May 1917.  

 

William is commemorated on the following Memorials:

 

Hall of Remembrance, Liverpool Town Hall, Panel 24 Right

 

St. John the Evangelist Church, Walton.