William Reginald's Story.
William was born in 1895 in Rock Ferry, Cheshire, to parents William Thomas, a foreman joiner and Eleanor Isabella Corlett. By 1911, he was living with his parents, sisters and brother at 13 Bolton Road, Port Sunlight. Two other siblings had previously died.William enlisted in the 18th Battalion, King’s Liverpool Regiment (Liverpool Pals) on the 2nd September 1914, his attestation paper records his occupation as a clerk, being in the employ of Lever Brothers, Port Sunlight.
After a period of training in the UK William arrived in France on 7th November 1915. Over the next two years William and his battalion were involved in some of the most notable battles of the First World War, including the battles of the Somme, Arras and Passchendaele.
Sadly, in 1916, William’s father died at the early age of 51.
On the 21st March 1918 Germany launched the Spring Offensive, a major attack along the western Front considered to be their last major chance to win the war. William’s battalion were positioned at Aubigny. The allied armies were overwhelmed and many soldiers were taken prisoner including William, who was captured around the French town of Ham, 20 kms south-east of St. Quentin.
In an article in the Birkenhead News of 15th May 1918, William’s capture was reported, stating that he was a prisoner of war in Germany.
William was taken to Germany as a prisoner of war. Although he survived past the armistice on November 11th, 1918, he tragically died of pneumonia at the 87th Field Ambulance. William is buried in Cologne Southern Cemetery, Germany.
Research by Chris