William Henry's Story.
290374, Private, William Henry Cartwright, 1/7th Battalion, Cheshire Regiment, former number 2079. (Shown as Charles William Cartwright on Memorial)
Born in 1892 at Hurdsfield, son of boot maker, Thomas and Margaret Cartwright, Sunderland Street, Macclesfield. His siblings were, Alice, Jessie and John. William’s occupation was housepainter, employed by Mr Glover of Prestbury. He lived at 72, Chelford Road, Broken Cross when he enlisted at Macclesfield. After his initial training he was drafted to France with the British Expeditionary Force. In France, the 7th Battalion were in the 34th Division, and on the 23rd July the Division advanced on Launoy with two French Divisions, the objective was for the 7th Battalion to take Reugny Wood, their advance through high standing corn was difficult to control, and Lewis guns had to be fired from the hip. After gaining some 1,200 yards under heavy machine gun fire, they were held up, owing to the failure of the French to capture Tigny. The companies moved into dead ground and dug in, suffering severe casualties from shell, gas and machine guns. William was killed in action, 23/07/1918, aged 26 years.
Cheshire County Memorial Project would like to thank Harry Carlisle for this research on William.