Lance Corporal 22574 William Watson

• Age: 21
• From: Spennymoor
• Regiment: 13th KLR
• Died on Wednesday 21st August 1918
• Commemorated at: Bucquoy Rd Cem Ficheux
  Panel Ref: II.H.7

William Watson was born in the December quarter of 1896 in Spennymoor, Durham, and was baptised on 16^th December 1896.  He was the son of James Watson  and Hannah Mary (nee Draycott), who married in Durham in 1894.  His father was born in Sunderland and his mother in Sheffield. They had three children:  Annie, born in 1895, and William in 1896, were born in Durham, and James in 1900 in Bedford.  As his father worked in the prison system, it is likely that the family moved to Bedford and Walton, both places with large prisons, for job opportunities.

In 1901 the family is at 9 Peel Street, Bedford (which is very close to the prison).  His father 27, is an assistant prison warden.  Annie is 6, William is 4, and James is 7 months old.

Sadly, his father died in January 1911, at the young age of 37.  The 1911 census finds them at 68 Elmdale Road, Walton (not far from the prison). His widowed mother, 39, is living on private means.  Annie is 16, William, 14, is a general merchant’s clerk, and James is 10.

William enlisted in Liverpool on 5^th November 1914, as Private 22574, 20^th (Pals) Bn, King’s (Liverpool) Regiment.  He gives his age as 19 years (in fact he may have just passed his 18^th birthday) and his occupation as clerk.  He is described as being 5’ 11 and a half inches tall, weighing 134 lbs, with a fresh complexion, and brown eyes and hair.  He states previous service in 18^th City Bn.  He gives his religion as Church of England, and his next of kin as his mother Hannah Mary Watson, 68 Elmdale Road, Walton.

After training in the UK, William shipped to France with his battalion, disembarking at Boulogne on 7^th November 1915.

18/2/1916 to 10/7/1916  attached to ?

Granted leave to UK 10-19 August 1917

Appointed unpaid Lance Corporal on 19/10/1917

22/1/1918 rejoined Bn 

Posted to 18^th Bn on 7/2/1918 and reverted to Private

Appointed paid L/Cpl on 12/5/1918

Posted to 13^th Bn on 30/5/1918 as L/Cpl

He was killed in action on 21/8/1918. The Bn War Diary for August 1918 records -

Part of the 9th Brigade 3rd Army advance on Bapaume August 21st – 24th

20th August – Bivouacked at Hannescamp. At 11 p.m. the battalion moved to assembly positions. Intermittent shelling of assembly area.

21st August – At Zero Hour 4:55 a.m. the battalion moved forward in a thick mist exacerbated by smoke cloud to cover tanks. Direction was extremely difficult. The troops never hesitated even though nothing could be seen of their objective or of the troops on their flanks. Several strong points were encountered, but were outflanked with Lewis Gun and rifle fire. ‘C’ Company on the right had no tank assisting but advanced in short rushes on the machine guns. Enemy heavy artillery was active throughout the day. The men suffered heavy casualties from exposure of the right flank.

Total casualties during the operation – 3 Officers Killed, including 2nd Lt. J.B. Friend, 263 Other Ranks. Of those other ranks were  Arthur Cottrell, Charles Napier Mitchell, Henry Pemberton, ,  Herbert Cunningham Wands, William Watson and Robert Tudwal Williams who were all former Liverpool Pals. 

He now rests at Bucquoy Road Cemetery where his headstone has the epitaph:

"AT REST"

In November 1916, the village of Ficheux was behind the German front line, but by April 1917, the German withdrawal had taken the line considerably east of the village and in April and May, the VII Corps Main Dressing Station was posted near for the Battles of Arras. It was followed by the 20th and 43rd Casualty Clearing Stations, which remained at Boisleux-au-Mont until March 1918, and continued to use the Bucquoy Road Cemetery begun by the field ambulances. From early April to early August 1918 the cemetery was not used but in September and October, the 22nd, 30th and 33rd Casualty Clearing Stations came to Boisleux-au-Mont and extended it. By the date of the Armistice, it contained 1,166 burials but was greatly increased when graves were brought in from the surrounding battlefields and from small cemeteries in the neighbourhood. 

The cemetery now contains 1,901 burials and commemorations of the First World War. 168 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to 23 casualties known or believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials commemorate 21 casualties buried by their comrades in Henin-sur-Cojeul German Cemetery, whose graves could not be found on concentration.

The cemetery was used again in May 1940 for the burial of troops killed during the German advance. There are 136 burials and commemorations of the Second World War; 26 of the burials are unidentified and special memorials commemorate 39 soldiers whose graves in the cemetery could not be specifically located.

CWGC shows his age as 22 but based on birth records, he appears to have been 21.

William earned his three medals.  His effects and War Gratuity went to his mother Hannah Taylor (she had remarried in 1917) and siblings James and Annie.  His pension card shows ‘Refusal’, but reason not clear.

His mother lived to the age of 81 and died in 1953.

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