Pte 21651 William Joseph Wrigley

• Age: 22
• From: Liverpool
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 19th Btn
• K.I.A Sunday 30th July 1916
• Commemorated at: Guillemont Rd Cem
  Panel Ref: IV.K.10

William Joseph was born on 22nd March 1894 in Liverpool. He was the eldest son of Vincent James Wrigley and his wife Eliza (nee Donnelly) who were married on the 19th January 1893 at Blessed Sacrament Church, Aintree. Vincent was of 87 Herbert Street, father William, whilst Eliza was of 25 Rice Lane, father James, and they had five children.  Willie had younger siblings Vincent James, born in 1896 (who died at 4 months old), Francis, born on 17th September 1897, Joseph, born on 04th May 1899, and Elizabeth 1901 (who also died at 4 months).   

At the time of the 1901 census the family were living at 33 Carnarvon Road, Walton, Liverpool. Vincent is 41 and working as a bricklayer and Eliza is 31. William is 7, and he has two brothers – Francis aged 3 and Joseph aged 1. All of the family were born in Liverpool.

Sadly, his mother Eliza died in October 1903 at the age of 33, leaving his father with three children;  Willie was 9, Francis 5, and Joseph was 4.

William was educated at St Francis Xavier Roman Catholic School and Campion Bilateral Secondary Modern. 

As his father’s sister, Ann Elizabeth Kempsey, had been widowed shortly before, it is likely that the families combined households around this time as the two families are living at 114 Salisbury Road, Everton. 

His cousin Walter Kempsey,  was also a Liverpool Pal, serving as Private. 17873, of the 19th Battalion K.L.R., he was killed during the Spring Offensive on 30th March 1918, his body was not recovered from the battlefield or was subsequently lost as his name is recorded on the Pozieres Memorial.

William enlisted at St George's Hall in Liverpool on the 04th September 1914, joining the 19th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment. He gave his age as twenty years and 137 days and his occupation as a clerk. He was described as being five feet nine and three quarter inches tall, weighed 126lbs, 35" chest and was of fresh complexion with brown eyes and brown hair. He stated his religion as Roman Catholic. He was noted as having a scar on his forehead. He gave his father as his next of kin, at 53 Downing Street, Everton.

Formed on 07th September 1914 the 19th Battalion trained locally at Sefton Park and remained living at home or in rented accommodation until November 1914. They then moved to the hutted accommodation at Lord Derby’s estate at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 19th 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. He arrived in France on 7th November 1915.

He was killed in action on the 30th July 1916, aged 22, at the village of Guillemont, France, during the Somme Offensive.

19th Battalion Diary 30th July 1916

MALTZ HORN FARM

BATTLE begun. ZERO hour 4:45 am. The Battalion reached its objective, but suffered heavy losses, and had to evacuate its position owing to no reinforcements.

Everard Wyrall gives details of the attack in his book The History of The King’s Regiment;

"The 2nd Attack on Guillemont- 29th July 1916 the 89th Brigade the 20th King's were to attack on the right and the 19th on the left. During the evening of the 29th the night was dark and foggy when the Battalions moved off and the 19th with Lt Col G Rollo commanding, when passing the South east of the Briqueterie they were heavily shelled first with H E and then with a new kind of asphyxiating Gas shell which had curious results, at first it had no nasty effect but about 8 hrs later men began to fall sick with violent headaches and pains in the stomach. All ranks had to wear gas masks which in the darkness and mist made the going terribly difficult. It was indeed wonderful that they were able to reach their Assembly point at all. But they did and by 2.45 a.m. on the 30th July 1916 the Btn was assembled having suffered about 30 Casualties on the way up ready for the Zero hour at 4.45 a.m.

It is known that the two left Companies of the 19th under Capt. Dodd and Capt. Nicholson advanced in touch with the 2nd Royal Scots Fusiliers on their left although they suffered many casualties from Machine gun Fire did not encounter many Germans and reached their final objective about the time allocated, beginning at once to dig in south of the orchard on the South east corner of Guillemont.

On the left of the 19th the Scots Fusiliers most gallantly forced their way through Guillemont to the eastern side of the village but were soon overwhelmed by the enemy and few returned.

At 8 a.m. finding that the village was not held the two left Companies of the 19th received no word from the rear or either flank believed themselves to be totally isolated so were forced to fall back and dig in, their position being untenable.

At midday the effective fighting strength of the 19th Btn was just 7 Officers and 43 other ranks"

When darkness fell on the battlefield the 30th Division held a line from the railway on the eastern side of Trones Wood , southwards and including Arrow Head Copse, to east of Maltz Horn Farm. On this line the division was relieved by the 55th Division during the early hours of the 31st July.

Casualties in the 19th Battalion were 11 Officers and 435 Other Ranks

The events of 30th July 1916 were regarded at the time as Liverpool’s blackest day. There follows an extract from The History of the 89th 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.

Willie was declared Missing on 30th July 1916 and his death later assumed for official purposes as having occurred on or since that date.

Willie was buried close to where he fell and, after the war when graves were concentrated, his body was removed and reinterred in Guillemont Road Cemetery, where he now rests. 

Guillemont was an important point in the German defences at the beginning of the Battle of the Somme in July 1916. It was taken by the 2nd Royal Scots Fusiliers on 30 July but the battalion was obliged to fall back, and it was again entered for a short time by the 55th (West Lancashire) Division on 8 August. On 18 August, the village was reached by the 2nd Division, and on 3 September (in the Battle of Guillemont) it was captured and cleared by the 20th (Light) and part of the 16th (Irish) Divisions. It was lost in March 1918 during the German advance, but retaken on 29 August by the 18th and 38th (Welsh) Divisions.

The cemetery was begun by fighting units (mainly of the Guards Division) and field ambulances after the Battle of Guillemont, and was closed in March 1917, when it contained 121 burials. It was greatly increased after the Armistice when graves (almost all of July-September 1916) were brought in from the battlefields immediately surrounding the village and certain smaller cemeteries, including:-

HARDECOURT FRENCH MILITARY CEMETERY. The village of Hardecourt-au-Bois was captured by French troops on the 8th July 1916, and again by the 58th (London) and 12th (Eastern) Divisions on 28 August 1918. Five British Artillerymen were buried by their unit in the French Military Cemetery, in the middle of the village, in September 1916; and in 1918 the 12th Division buried in the same cemetery 14 men of the 9th Royal Fusiliers and two of the 7th Royal Sussex.

Guillemont Road Cemetery now contains 2,263 Commonwealth burials and commemorations of the First World War. 1,523 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to eight casualties known or believed to be buried among them.

The cemetery was designed by Sir Herbert Baker.

He earned his three medals.

His Army pay went to his father, who was awarded a pension of 7/6d a week from May 1917, living at that time at 5 Cathedral Road, Anfield.  The War Gratuity of £8-10s went to his brother Francis.

Francis enlisted in October 1915, and served overseas with the 14th Bn. K.L.R. He was discharged on 09th September 1918 with a Silver War Badge as no longer physically fit for war service. 

In the Liverpool Echo on 30th July 1917, under the heading ‘Lost At The Battle of Guillemont’ his father paid tribute to Willie and his two best Pals–

“July 30, 1916. In grateful and loving memory of Privates W.J. Wrigley (Willie) H.J. Voce, and Charles Heath (Pals) killed at battle of Guillemont, Somme. (Never forgotten by Willie’s dad. R.I.P.)”

Additional notices were also posted:

Wrigley 21651 – “July 30, 1916, killed on Somme, aged 23, Pte W.J. Wrigley (“Pals”), the beloved eldest son of Vincent and the late Eliza Wrigley. - Fondest memories. (R.I.P.)”

Including one from Irvine Voce's parents.

“In loving memory of our dear son and brother Private Irvine Voce, also his chum Private William Wrigley, both 19th K.L.R. (“Pals”), who fell at Guillemont, July 30, 1916. R.I.P.”

Willie together with his best friends were remembered on the second anniversary of their death

“July 30, 1916, killed in action, Private William  J. Wrigley (Willie), the dearly-loved eldest son of Vincent J. and the late Eliza Wrigley; also Henry T. Voce and Charles Heath (3rd Pals). -  Fondly remembered by Father of the first-named, Brother and Cousin in France, and all at 5, Cathedral Road, Anfield.” 

His youngest brother Joseph enlisted in about May 1917 (which is when he turned 18) and served overseas as Pte 26693 with the 9th Bn. East Surreys. He was taken prisoner of war on the 16th Oct 1918 at Haussy, Cambrai. His ICRC card, indexed incorrectly as WRIGHY 26697, gives the POW Camp as Dulmen, which is in Haltem-Sythen, North Rhine. Sadly, Joseph died of heart failure after the armistice, on 30th November 1918, at the age of 19.  He now rests in Nijmegen (Rustoord) Cemetery in the Netherlands, one of four Commonwealth burials from WW1. A 19-year old dying of heart failure was most probably due to starvation. The men complained of insufficient food and they relied on food parcels from home and the Red Cross. Thousands of POWs were repatriated through the neutral Netherlands during the war. It is possible that Joseph was too weak to continue his journey home and succumbed before he could reach England. 

The pension was increased in June 1919 to 15/- for both sons. 

In 1919 the only surviving son Francis, 21, is living with his father at 5 Cathedral Road.

His father died in 1921, aged 61.  

Willie's only surviving brother, Francis died in 1926 at the age of 29.

Willie is commemorated on the following Memorials:

St. Francis Xavier College 

Liverpool’s Hall of Remembrance, Panel 32 Right  

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