Capt Walter Willmer

• Age: 28
• From: Birkenhead, Cheshire
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 19th Btn
• K.I.A Sunday 30th July 1916
• Commemorated at: Thiepval Memorial
  Panel Ref: P&F1D8B &8 C.

Walter Willmer was born on the 28th November 1887 in Birkenhead, Cheshire, the son of Charles Watkin Willmer and his wife Elizabeth Christiana (née Catherall) who were married on the 16th July 1885 at the Congregational Chapel in Buckley.

The marriage was reported in the Wrexham Advertiser on Saturday 25 July 1885: 

Wilmer(sic)— Catherall— July 16th, at the Congregational Chapel, Buckley, Mr C. H. Wilmer, eldest son of Alderman J. Wilmer, of Birkenhead, to Miss Bessie Catherall, sixth daughter of Mr Wm. Catherall, Penbrigog, Buckley. Williams 

Walter was baptised on the 19th April 1888 at the Unitarian Church, Birkenhead, his father a journalist, 11 Reedville. 

The 1891 Census shows 3 year old Walter living with his parents and siblings at Reedville, Slatey Road, Birkenhead. His father Charles is shown as a 42 year old Newspaper Editor, Publisher and printer born in Liverpool in 1849. His mother Elizabeth is shown as a 29 year old born in Buckley, Flintshire in 1862. Walter's siblings at this time are his elder brother Charles, aged 4, born in Birkenhead and his younger sister Bertha born in Birkenhead in 1890. Also present in the household are two servants.

By 1901 the family have moved to 7 James Street, Birkenhead. His father, Charles, is aged 53, and is a newspaper proprietor, his mother Elizabeth is aged 39. There are four children in the household. Walter, is now aged 13, his elder brother Charles, aged 14, and younger sister Bertha, aged 11, have been added to with another brother, Frederick born in 1893. Again there are two servants in the household.  

His father died on 19th March 1903, aged 54 and was buried at Flaybrick Memorial Gardens, Birkenhead. 

The 1911 Census finds Walter now aged 23 and a student journalist living with his widowed mother, aged 49, at 43 Devonshire Road, Birkenhead. Also present at the home are a boarder and a servant. 

He was educated at Birkenhead School and prior to enlistment he was associated with the firm Messrs Willmer Brothers, who were the proprietors of the Birkenhead News. Walter was an enthusiastic hockey player at school, and after he left he continued to play for Oxton Hockey Club, and writing hockey notes for the local Newspaper ‘The Birkenhead News’ under the pseudonym ‘Styx’. 

Walter enlisted at St George's Hall in Liverpool joining the 19th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment as Private 17988. He was commissioned on 03rd September 1914. He was promoted to Lieutenant in the spring of 1915, and temporary Captain in August 1915.

He married May Braithwaite Cooke on 22nd September 1915 at the Unitarian Church, Bessborough Road, Birkenhead. 

The marriage was reported in the Liverpool Echo on Friday 24 September 1915: 

WILLMER—COOKE—September 22, at the Unitarian Church, Bessborough-road, Birkenhead, by the Rev. J. E. Jenkins, Captain Walter Willmer, 19th Battalion King's (Liverpool Regiment), son of the late Charles Watkin Willmer, to May Braithwaite, daughter of the late Thomas Cooke, of Bristol, and Mrs. Cooke, Liverpool. 

WILLMER—COOKE—September 23, at Unitarian Church, Bessborough-road, by the Rev. Gordon Cooper, M.A., and the Rev. J. Ewart Jenkins, Captain Harvey Thew Willmer, 19th Battalion The King's (Liverpool Regiment,), second son of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur W. Willmer, Oakhurst, Grosvenor-road, Birkenhead, to Florence, only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Cooke, of Ragleth, Shrewsbury-road, Birkenhead. 

He crossed to France in November 1915, as Second in Command of No.4 Company, which was commanded by his cousin, Captain Harvey Thew Willmer. After this, his service followed that of the Battalion, until he was killed in action during the Battle of Guillemont, on July 30th 1916.

The Battalion’s objectives were the German Trenches on the South Eastern edge of Guillemont, which was a heavily fortified village on top of a gentle slope, with a front of about seven hundred yards. Each end of the front was also defended by Machine-guns, which could give covering and enfilading fire. The line of attack was entirely without cover. The 19th Battalion was on the left flank of the 89th Brigade advance, which began at 04.45am in a thick and heavy fog.

As the Battalion moved forward in the fog, it was heavily shelled with high explosive and gas shells, which added to the confusion and consequent loss of direction. Despite this, the edge of the village was reached, but the 19th Battalion was unable to link up with the Battalion on its left, the 2nd Royal Scots, and found both its flanks in the air. By that time, the fog had lifted to a large extent, and that allowed the German Machine Gunners a clear field of fire, their numbers were augmented by Infantrymen and snipers who had left their trenches to lie in No Man’s Land to shelter from the British bombardment on their front line trenches.

At some point during the course of the action, Walter was hit in the head by a machine-gun bullet and was killed instantly. He was aged twenty eight. By the end of the day, nine officers and one hundred and eighty four other ranks had been killed or died of wounds, and the Brigade had advanced about 300 yards in all along its front.

The events of 30^th July 1916 were regarded at the time as Liverpool’s blackest day. There follows an extract from The History of the 89^th Brigade written by Brigadier General Ferdinand Stanley which gives an indication of the events of the day.

Guillemont

Well the hour to advance came, and of all bad luck in the world it was a thick fog; so thick that you couldn’t see more than about ten yards. It was next to impossible to delay the attack – it was much too big an operation- so forward they had to go. It will give some idea when I say that on one flank we had to go 1,750 yards over big rolling country. Everyone knows what it is like to cross enclosed country which you know really well in a fog and how easy it is to lose your way. Therefore, imagine these rolling hills, with no landmarks and absolutely unknown to anyone. Is it surprising that people lost their way and lost touch with those next to them? As a matter of fact, it was wonderful the way in which many men found their way right to the place we wanted to get to. But as a connected attack it was impossible.

The fog was intense it was practically impossible to keep direction and parties got split up. Owing to the heavy shelling all the Bosches had left their main trenches and were lying out in the open with snipers and machine guns in shell holes, so of course our fellows were the most easy prey.

It is so awfully sad now going about and finding so many splendid fellows gone.   

His 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.

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.”

Walter's death was reported in the Liverpool Daily Post on 07th August 1916;

THE LATE CAPTAIN WILLMER. 

General regret will be felt in Birkenhead at the death in action of Captain Walter Willmer of the Liverpool "Pals". He went into action on Sunday the 30th ult. and died from wounds sustained as he was leading his company. His death will be mourned by a large circle of friends, who admired him as a gallant young officer. He joined the “Pals'' in 1914, and was one the most popular officers of the battalion. Captain Walter Willmer was the eldest surviving son of the late Mr. Charles W. Willmer, of Birkenhead, and Mrs. Willmer, of Ramsey, Isle of Man. He was married to Miss Braithwaite Cooke. B.A., daughter of the late Mr. James Cooke, of Bristol, and Mrs.Cooke, of Liverpool in September last. He was associated with the firm of Messrs. Willmer Brothers, proprietors of the Birkenhead News,’ and he was a very promising young business man. His uncle is an ex-Mayor of Birkenhead, and the young widow and the members of both families are plunged in grief at their bereavement. His cousin, Captain Harvey Thew Willmer. son of Mr. A. W. Willmer. has been wounded. The late Captain was home on leave in June, and when left to rejoin his regiment he was in high spirits, and expressed confidence in the success of the Allies.

His death was also reported in The Times dated 9th August 1916:

"FALLEN OFFICERS"

We have received news of the death of the following officers, in addition to those whose names have been published in the official list:- ...... WILLMER, Capt. W., Liverpool Regt. ..... The Times would be obliged if relatives of officers who fall in the service of the country would forward, with the intimation of death, but on a separate sheet of paper, any biographical details in their possession. ...... CAPTAIN WALTER WILLMER, who was killed on July 30, held a commission in the Liverpool Regiment since the outbreak of war. He was the second son of the late Mr. Charles W. Willmer (editor for many years of the Birkenhead News, and at one time editor of the Liverpool Review) and Mrs. Willmer, of Ramsay, Isle of Man. He was a grandson of the late Alderman Charles Willmer, a former Mayor of Birkenhead, who founded and edited the Northern Daily Times, and founded the Birkenhead News. Before the war he was associated with the firm of Messrs. Willmer Brothers and Co. (Limited), of Birkenhead and Liverpool. Captain Willmer married last September Miss Braithwaite Cooke, B.A., daughter of the late Mr. James Cooke, of Bristol, and Mrs. Cooke, of Liverpool.

In a letter home to Walter’s widow, his cousin, Captain Harvey Thew Willmer, who was also wounded in the attack, said,

‘Yesterday morning our Brigade had to do another attack, and this time the 19th were the first line. I got my bullet in the first five minutes, but it didn’t interfere with my carrying on. The CO was wounded, and the Adjutant killed just about the same time, which left me in Command of the Battalion. Walter was hit in the head with a bullet from a machine-gun and died instantaneously.”

Apart from Harvey, Walter had two other cousins who served in the Great War, Lieutenant Wrayford Willmer of the 17th Battalion The King’s Liverpool Regiment was also wounded at Guillemont, and Captain Arthur Franklin Willmer of the 9th Battalion The Rifle Brigade died on 20th September 1916, of wounds received in action on the Somme, he was 26 years of age and now rests at St Sever Cemetery, Rouen, France.

Walter was a shareholder in the Great Western Railway.

Probate was granted on 26th September 1916:- 

WILLMER Walter of Oakhurst Grosvenor Road Birkenhead captain H. M. Army died 30 July 1916 in France Probate London 26 September to May Braithwaite Willmer widow. Effects £275 9s.  

On the 1921 Census his mother Elizabeth, aged 60, and brother Frederick, aged 29, a retired journalist, are living in Ramsey, Isle of Man. His mother died, aged 94, back in Birkenhead in 1956. 

Probate 1956:- 

WILLMER Elizabeth Christiana of 35 Caerns Road, Oxton Birkenhead widow died 20 January 1956 at Earlscroft Nursing home 5 Waterford Road, Birkenhead Probate Liverpool 16 February to Frederick Willmer printer and publisher. Effects £698 2s 8d. 

His widow May, dob 7th Sept 1887, never remarried and is found on the 1939 Register at “Candida Kingston”, Chailey Road, Brighton where she was a retired schoolmistress. She died, aged 62, in the September quarter of 1950. 

Walter is commemorated on the following Memorials:

Hall of Remembrance, Liverpool Town Hall, Panel 35 

Unitarian Chapel, Liscard

Birkenhead Cenotaph

Birkenhead School   

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