William's Story.
He was the son of Mr & Mrs James Whitehead, 22 Higher Bents Lane, Bredbury. Other than that, and the fact he enlisted in Stockport, nothing is known of William's private life. His service number indicates that he was a recent conscript to the army and probably joined the Battalion only a few weeks before he was killed, as a part of a group of replacements for men killed or injured at the Battle of Messines in June 1917. On 10 August, he took part in a small-scale but important attack. Afterwards, he was posted as "missing" and it was not until May 1918, that the War Office made an official presumption that he must have been killed. William's body was never found and identified.
The Cheshire Roll of Honour would like to thank John Hartley for this information on William.