L/Cpl 25720 Arthur William Waterworth

• Age: 21
• From: Liverpool
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 17th Btn
• K.I.A Monday 10th July 1916
• Commemorated at: Thiepval Memorial
  Panel Ref: P&F1D8B &8 C.

Arthur William Waterworth was born in Liverpool in the summer of 1895, the youngest child of John Alma Waterworth and Jane Ann (nee Lloyd), who were married in Ormskirk in 1879.  His father was born in Blackpool and his mother in Southport.  They had seven children:  John, Eleanor, Annie, Constance, George, James (who died in infancy), and Arthur.  Arthur was  baptised in St. Mary’s Walton on 11^th August 1895.

In 1901 the family is living at 14 Ireton Street, Walton, with six children. His father, aged 46, is a Customs preventive officer, his mother is 45.  His brother John, 20, is a steam engineer’s apprentice, Eleanor is 18, Annie 16, Constance 14, George 10, Arthur is 5.

In February 1911 his brother John died, aged 30.
  
The 1911 census shows the family at 15 Burwen Drive, Walton. His mother Jane, aged 56, is head of the household, she states that she has been married for 32 years and has had 7 children, 5 of whom have survived, his father John is not present. His brother George, 20, is an engineer’s apprentice, Arthur is 15, at college.

His sister Annie died in 1913 aged 29.

Unfortunately, Arthur’s service record has not survived, but we do know that he enlisted in Liverpool, as Private 25720, 17^th (Pals) Battalion of The King’s Liverpool Regiment. He trained in the UK before shipping to the front, disembarking in France on 21^st December 1915.  At some point he was promoted to Lance Corporal.  The battalion was in the front lines at Maricourt and went over the top on 1^st July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme, and achieved its objectives.  Arthur survived the deadly first day, which cost nearly 20,000 British dead, but on 10^th July the 17^th Bn was tasked with taking Trones Wood, still held by the Germans.

The murderous fighting that went on inside Trones Wood rendered it impossible to put specific dates on some of the casualties which is why many of the 17^th Battalion losses have been bracketed as killed in action between 10^th – 12th July 1916. The conditions are best described in the following passage from Everard Wyrall’s book The History of The King’s Regiment (Liverpool) Volume II. 

The remembrance of Trones Wood in July 1916 to those who passed through it is of a noisome, horrible place, of a tangled mass of trees and undergrowth which had been tossed and flung about in frightful confusion by the shells of both sides. Of the ghastly dead which lay about in all directions, and of DEATH, lurking in every hole and corner with greedy hands ready to snatch the lives of the unwary. The place was a Death trap, and although the attacks were made with great determination,   the presence of snipers who could not be detected and often fired into the backs of our men made the clearing of the wood impossible.

After the assault on Trones Wood Arthur was declared Missing in action. 

In the Liverpool Echo on 15^th August 1916 under the heading:

‘Footballer Missing’ –

“Lance corporal Arthur Waterworth, 21 years of age, of the “Pals” (Liverpool Regiment), has been missing since the charge on July 10.  He is the son of Mr. J.A. Waterworth, late of His Majesty’s Customs and Excise.  His parents reside at 59 Walsingham Road, Wallasey. He played with Wallasey Village and Harrowby.”

His family must have lived in anguish for many months, not knowing their son’s fate.  It was not until nearly ten months later that they were officially informed:  In the Liverpool Echo, on 2^nd May 1917: 

 “July 10, 1916, previously reported missing, now reported killed in action, aged 21 years, Lance corporal Arthur Waterworth, K.L.R. (Pals), youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. J. Waterworth, 59 Walsingham Road, Wallasey. (For King and country.)”

For official Army purposes, Arthur’s death was presumed on or since 10^th July.  He was 21 years old.  His body was never recovered and he is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme.

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.”

Arthur earned his three medals.  His effects went to his father John, who died in 1930.  His mother Jane died in 1932, having lost her husband and four of her seven children.

Probate was not granted until 1933, possibly because Arthur’s death was presumed and a waiting period was necessary.  Effects of £223 1s 10d went to Evelyn Dorothy Roberts (the married daughter of his sister Eleanor).

His brother George served in the Merchant Marine during the war.

Arthur is commemorated on the following Memorials;

Hall of Remembrance, Liverpool Town Hall, Panel 32 Left

Wallasey Civic Memorial and Roll of Honour

Oxton Road Methodist Church, Wallasey.

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