Pte 52464 William Bradford

On the 1901 Census 2 month old Constance Bratford, born Walworth, London, was recorded in one of the three households at 25 Mansion Street, Camberwell. She was living in a single room with her mother, the 22 year old unmarried Emily Bratford, born Ingrave, Essex. Although Emilys’ profession was shown as Domestic General Servant, she was not then recorded as a “Worker”. William, aged 2, is recorded as a Lodger in Cromwell Road, Brentwood with a 74 year old widow Rebecca Cotterill. Next door is 52 year old widowed Sick Nurse, Mary A. Turvey – the woman William would be living with on the 1911 Census. 

The April 1911 Census shows William, a schoolboy, aged 12 as a boarder under the surname Bradford living with a 62 year old widowed nurse, Mary Ann Turvey at 12 Cromwell Road, Brentwood. His mother is living at 11 Blucher Road, Camberwell. Head Christopher Henry Smith aged 29, a bricklayer b.Highgate, wife Emily Mary aged 33, children Pheobe Emily 4 born Camberwell, Henrietta Ann 2 born Camberwell, and Constance Bratford 11 born St Peter’s, Walworth. (They went on to have Christina(1911, died), Christopher(1912), Margaret(1915), John(1917) and Pearl(1920).) 

He enlisted in Warley, Essex as William Bradford and served originally as Private 18534 of the Lancashire Fusiliers. At some point he was transferred to the 18th Battalion of The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 52464. Based on his War Gratuity of £6 10s he enlisted around April 1915 in Warley, Essex, where Warley Barracks was the depot of the Essex Regiment. Upon mobilization in February 1916 he became Private 18534 of the Lancashire Fusiliers, then around September 1916 transferring to the 18th Battalion of The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 52464 (these dates based on the Pte 52463 18/KLR Alfred Biggs, who has service records.) 

William was killed in action on the 18th October 1916, aged 25, during the Battle of the Transloy Ridges which was part of the ongoing Somme Offensive. 

18^th Bn Diary

18^th October 1916

Attacked German trenches commencing 3.40 am. Relieved by 19^th Manchester Regt. Took up position in support Bn trenches W. of Goose Alley.

Graham Maddocks in his book Liverpool Pals gives an overview of the events of the day:

“At 3.40 am the whistles blew, and the Battalion left its assembly trenches, in three waves, approximately fifty yards apart, and began to cross No Man’s Land. Almost immediately, the German Barrage fell on the first wave and halted its advance, so that the second wave soon caught up with it. This was not a great problem at first, and the two combined waves were able to advance together for about 300 yards, whereupon they encountered the German Grid Trench system. On the right of the advance, it was found that the wire was largely intact, apart from a few gaps, and the Germans bombed and machine gunned these gaps, which prevented any further progress. Elsewhere along the trench, however, the wire was cut and there did not seem to be any serious opposition. Nevertheless, the men hesitated to jump down into the German trenches, and instead, began to filter back across to the safety of their own lines.

By this time the third wave had caught up, as had a fourth wave, which had been detailed to mop up any opposition once the trenches had fallen, and all four waves became intermingled which added to the confusion. No less than three attempts were made to try to get the men to go forward again, but each attempt became markedly less successful than its predecessor, and eventually the attack came to a standstill. Although the British assembly trenches had received the attention of the German guns, the attackers in No Mans Land had not come under any great intensity of fire up until this point.

However, once it became obvious to the Germans that the attack was disorganised and faltering, they began to fire into the massed men from the flanks. It was probably this that finally settled the issue and convinced the Pals that they could no longer gain the enemy trenches, and all four waves, now merged into one, began to retreat to their own lines. The whole attack had been an abysmal failure, and no ground had been gained at all”.           

William's body was not recovered from the battlefield or was subsequently lost as he has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme as William Bradford (not Bratford).

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 01^st 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.”