2nd Lieut William Sinclair

• Age: 34
• From: Hull
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 18th Btn
• K.I.A Wednesday 18th October 1916
• Commemorated at: Thiepval Memorial
  Panel Ref: P&F1D8B &8 C.

Second Lieut. William Sinclair was one of the the "Pals" who responded to Lord Derby's call at the end of August, 1914. He was a son of Mr. William Sinclair, of Hull, and Mrs. Sinclair, and following a successful school career at Hymers' College and at Sandbach Grammar School, became associated about 1899 with the Liverpool provisions trade with Messrs: W.P. Sinclair & Co, Ltd, of North John Street. He was thirty four years of age at the time of his death. 

He obtained his commission in April, 1915, and in June, 1916, went to France with the 18th Battalion K.L.R. At 4.30am on October 18th, 1916, in cold, raw weather the Battalion received orders to make an attack near Geuedecourt. The men had previously been through a hard and dis-spiriting time, and just before the attack was launched Second Lieut. Sinclair, realising his men needed encouragement, went along the line serving out rum rations at the risk of his life. Then he gallantly led his men forward in the dark, and had got up to the German wire when Lance-Corporal Roberts, who was near him, heard him gasp, and saw him put his hand to his left side and fall over. The Corporal stopped, and tried to get him to speak, but in vain. He then left him with his servant and went on. Nothing further has been seen or heard of either the officer or the man, although bearers and patrols made a search for them.

Captain Clayton writing to Second Lieut. Sinclair's sister, said, "The conditions that night were particularly hard, and the darkness made the keeping of direction difficult, and the wet and cold had greatly affected the men's spirits. These hardships evidently did not daunt your brother, who led his men in the true direction, and fell close to the first objective. .  .  . We are proud of him and miss him sorely."

Second Lieut. Sinclair lived at Fern Grove, Sefton Park, Liverpool and was unmarried. He played hockey for the Huyton Club and later for Bebington. He was a member of the Huyton Golf Club and of the Mersey Bowmen's Lawn Tennis Club.

The above extract was taken from Liverpool's Scroll of Fame.

William was born at Sculcoates, Hull in late 1881, the son of  William Sinclair and his wife Eleanor Adeline (nee Cook) who were married on 03rd July 1879 in Hull. 

On the 1891 census the family are living at 78 Beverley Rd, Sculcoates, Yorkshire. Father William 38 an American merchant b.Bebington, Cheshire, mother Eleanor C. 34 b.Hull, children born Hull, Wilda St Clair 10 a scholar, William 8 a scholar, Francis St Clair 8 a scholar, and Agatha 6 a scholar. 

His father died on the 07th January 1896 in Hull.  

Probate:- 

SINCLAIR - William of 111 Beverley Road, Kingston upon Hull, died 7th January 1896. Administration London 12th of March to Eleanor Adeline Sinclair widow. Effects £1889. 

On the 1901 Census the family have moved to 37 Fern Grove, Toxteth Park. His widowed mother ,Eleanor, is aged 44 and she has three children in the household; Wilda is aged 20, William is aged 19 and is a  clerk for a provision dealer, Nora  is 10 and was also born in Hull. Also present in the household is a servant; Margaret aged 20 born in Co.Down. 

His mother died on the 24th April 1906 in Liverpool. 

Probate:- 

SINCLAIR - Eleanor Adeline of 37 Fern Grove, Sefton Park, Liverpool widow died 24th April 1906 at 19 Percy Street, Liverpool. Probate London 14th June to Samuel Gibson Sinclair ship owner and Lucy Amelia Cook spinster effects £3462 5s 11d. 

On the 1911 Census William is boarding with the Bainbridge family at 34 Fern Grove, Toxteth Park. William aged 29,  is single and a merchant in American produce, also his brother Harold Lumley St Clair aged 22, a bank clerk who was born in Hull.  

He joined the ranks of the Pals in August 1914 as Private 15565, joining the 17th Battalion. After earning his commission he joined the 18th Battalion in France when it was stationed on the Somme. However there is no mention of him in the Battalion War Diary at all.

On the day that he was killed, 18th October 1916, the Battalion had been ordered to make an attack on the German Position known as Gird Trench near Flers, which had been unsuccessfully attacked five days earlier by the 89th Brigade. The objectives of the 18th Battalion were in the centre of the Brigade attack and included the capture and holding of a German strong point.

However, the preliminaries to the attack went badly when, on the evening of the 17th October, the enemy, who obviously sensed that another attack was coming, heavily shelled the British front and communication line trenches severely mauling No.3 Company, killing its Commander Captain G Ravenscroft. This so unsettled the company, that it had to be withdrawn from the line, and the reserve Company, only just arrived at the attack position through narrow and congested trenches, before Zero Hour, which was 03.30am,on 18th October. By this time constant rain had turned No Man’s Land to a bog.

His body and that of his servant were never found and were probably blown apart by the retaliatory barrage which the Germans soon directed simultaneously on their own front line, and the British rear. The whole attack was a total failure, and William Sinclair, who aged thirty four, was one of four officers and twenty seven other ranks killed that day.

He was reported as Missing in the Northern Whig on Monday 30 October 1916: 

Wounded and Missing. 

Sinclair, Sec-Lieut. W., King’s Liverpool Regiment. 

Second Lieut. Sinclair's body was not recovered or was subsequently lost as he has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.  

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.”

Soldiers Effects to brother Frank Waldegrave (St Clair) Sinclair, no pension record found. 

He is also commemorated on the following Memorials:

Hall of Remembrance, Liverpool Town Hall, Panel 40

Mersey Bowmen.

We currently have no further information on William Sinclair, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.