William Edward's Story.
William had been born within the parish of St Paul's C of E Church, Portwood and was the son of William and Ellen. The family home was at 32 Church Street, Heaton Norris, but after the War, William's parents had moved to 116 Short Street. He worked for Hollingdrake and Son. William joined the Territorials at Easter 1914 and was mobilised in the August when war was declared. He was killed in the Battalion's first major attack. A Lance Corporal in his platoon later wrote to his parents "Your son was killed whilst our battalion was making an attack on the German trenches. Before we made the attack, he was selected from our platoon to make up a party of bombers to bomb the German dug outs. It was whilst doing this dangerous work that he was killed. He is missed very much in the platoon, because he was such a good soldier and would always do his best."