William's Story.
Edward Stanley Ashcroft was born in West Derby, Liverpool, on 29 October 1882, the son of Charles W. and Alice M. Ashcroft. His father had been born in Liverpool, in 1851, and his mother in Eccles, in 1852, and the couple married in 1877. Charles Ashcroft was a Commercial Miller, and would eventually become a partner with Edward Hutchinson, Mersey Flour Mills. By 1901, they had settled in Birkenhead, and lived at 16, Waterford Road, Oxton. They originally had had nine children, but sadly one (Alice – born 1895) had died, leaving William (born 1881), Edward Stanley (born 1882), Frederic (born 1886), Harold (born 1884), Alec H. (born 1887), Arthur L. (born 1890), and Robert L. (born 1892). By 1911, Charles and Alice employed four servants: Annie Lawrenson (Domestic Cook), Sarah Ann Hobson (Domestic Kitchen Maid), Harriet Quale (Domestic House Maid), and Nellie Anglesey (Domestic House Maid).
In 1896, Edward Stanley Ashcroft entered Birkenhead School, where he remained for the next four years. Before leaving in 1900, he had played a major part in the running of the school Sunday mission and had become Superintendent of the Sunday School. He had also been a Prefect, and had been Captain of the football XV, and a member of the cricket XI teams. After leaving school he initially went into business in Liverpool but subsequently worked in the office of his father’s business at Edward Hutchinson, Mersey Flour Mills. In his spare time, he played as a Three Quarter for the Birkenhead Park and Cheshire Rugby Clubs. In this capacity he had been chosen to play for the North of England but could not play owing to an injury. He had also been a keen golfer, playing for Prenton Golf Club.
Shortly after the outbreak of the Great War, he presented himself for enlistment as a private soldier, with his eldest brother, William, at St. George’s Hall, Liverpool, on 31 August 1914. He went on to train with this battalion at Knowsley Park Camp, and Grantham, having arrived there on 18 April 1915. It was during his training at Grantham, that Private Ashcroft either volunteered or was approached to train for a commission. He then travelled to Millbank, London, where he presented himself for enlistment into the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps on 31 July 1915, and was given the regimental number 5235. During his training, he was appointed to the rank of Lance Corporal on 12 October 1915 but was discharged on appointment to a commission in the 21st (Reserve) Bn. Kings (Liverpool) Regiment (stationed at Knowsley Park Camp, Prescot, Liverpool), on 25th October. This battalion had been formed in August 1915, from the Depot companies of the 17th and 18th Bn’s Kings (Liverpool) Regiment and remained as a Reserve Bn for the rest of the war. It left Knowsley Park Camp for Formby, in May 1916. Second Lieutenant Ashcroft trained at both locations until his posting orders came through to join the 12th Bn Kings (Liverpool) Regiment in France, in July 1916
On 15 July 1916, he embarked for France (almost certainly at Folkestone, Kent), and on arrival was probably sent to an Infantry Base Depot. Second Lieutenant Ashcroft finally joined his new battalion in the field, on the evening of 21 July 1916, with nine other new officers, when the battalion was occupying positions opposite Messines, in the Ypres Sector, Belgium. He continued to serve with this battalion during the Battle of The Somme at such places as Serre, Auchonvillers, Bernafay Wood, and Trones Wood, until 3 September 1916. On this date the 12th Bn Kings (Liverpool) Regiment were holding some craters to the south of Bernafay Wood, when they were given orders to move up to assembly trenches to the east of the wood. The battalion was attached to the 47th (Irish) Brigade, 16th (Irish) Division, and attacked the village of Guillemont at 12 noon, with the 12th Kings moving forward through Trones Wood at 12.25 p.m., and occupied Cornish Alley. At 4.00 p.m. two companies of the battalion moved forward to reinforce the men from the 7th Bn Leinster Regiment. During the events of that day, Second Lieutenant Ashcroft was severely wounded when he was struck by a piece of shell to the right frontal region of his head. He was evacuated away from the battlefield, and admitted to No.5 Casualty Clearing Station, based at Corbie, on the banks of the River Somme. Eventually he was sent to a hospital, being admitted on 4 September 1916. He then underwent an operation to have the shrapnel removed from his head. This resulted in a gap the size of a florin being left in his skull. Finally, on 14 September, he was embarked on board the Hospital Ship St. Andrew at Roeun, and was disembarked at Southampton two days later, and was admitted to the Empire Hospital that same day. On 7 October 1916, Second Lieutenant Ashcroft was declared as being unfit for army service for three months, and he was granted leave until 6 January 1917. During this time four medical boards sat to determine his condition and whether he was fit for active service again. At his final medical board, he had been suffering with Cerebral Concussion and had been attached to the 72nd Training Reserve Battalion, stationed at Prees Heath Camp, Salop, Shropshire. He was subsequently passed as fit, and promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, and on 25 September 1917, he embarked for France, and on 1October he joined the 17th Bn. Kings (Liverpool) Regiment and was posted to “C” Company.
Lieutenant Ashcroft served with the 17th Kings in the Hollebeke Sector of the Ypres Salient, Belgium, until 30 December 1917, when he was sent to 2nd Army Central School. He re-joined his battalion on 4th February 1918, when it was at Fargnier, and nine days later he was granted leave home (from 13-27 February 1918). Having re-joined his battalion on 28 February, Lieutenant Ashcroft continued to see action with it in the St. Quentin Right Sub-Sector, at such places as Beavois, Atilly (Aviation Wood), Ham, Moyencourt, Hangest, before returning to the Ypres Salient, on 4 April 1918. The 17th Kings first saw action back in this sector at Poelcapelle, where it was placed in support. It also saw action at St. Jans Cappel, prior to its move to the Voormezeele Sector of the line. Lieutenant Ashcroft went on to serve in this sector until 29 April 1918, when at 3.30 a.m. a heavy German artillery bombardment, consisting of high explosive and gas shells, opened up on the 17th Kings positions between Ridge Wood and Kruisstraathoek, and the road which connects Vierstraat with Ypres. This was later followed by a heavy infantry attack. The 17th Kings were in a desperate situation, being exhausted from the previous day’s heavy fighting, and already weakened by casualties, it did not take long for their positions to start crumbling. Despite furious fighting, the Germans broke through and managed to surround “A” Coy. All of the men of this company were either killed or taken prisoner-of-war. The rest of the battalion fell back to re-organise itself. During this action, it is not clear if Lieutenant Ashcroft was with “A” Coy. or had been wounded serving with another company. He had been severely wounded with a penetrating wound in his upper arm and the posterior and was one of the men reported as missing (he was not actually reported as missing until 1May, 1918).
Following his wounding and subsequent capture, he was taken to Reissen or Vuleus, and admitted to Bavarian Field Hospital 44, where he later died as a result of his wounds, on 12 May 1918. Some records state that Lieutenant Ashcroft was initially buried in Lauwe Military Cemetery, southwest of Courtrai. However, in the early 1920’s the Imperial War Graves Commission (later the Commonwealth War Graves Commission) decided to concentrate burials from the October, 1918 battlefields, and other German made out-lying war cemeteries, at Harlebeke, and Lieutenant Ashcroft’s body was exhumed and re-buried Plot 2, Row E, Grave 11, Harlebeke New Military Cemetery, Belgium.
After his parents had been notified of his death, a memorial service was held at the Birkenhead School Chapel in his memory, on 27 October 1918, the service being conducted by The Rev. C. A. MacVicar. He is commemorated in/on the following memorials:
Family application form requesting William to be added to the Birkenhead War Memorial.
Birkenhead School Roll of Honour Book
Prenton Golf Club war memorial
Birkenhead Park Rugby Club Roll of Honour Scroll
Lieutenant Ashcroft’s personal effects, consisting of 1x pair of gloves; 1x pipe; 1x cigarette case; 1x tobacco pouch; 5x note books; 1x cheque book; 1x advance book; 1x leather wallet; stamps; 1x Treasury note case; various letters and photographs; Treasury note for 10/-; 2x coins; 5x Francs; and 1x Army Book 439, were returned to his parents on 13th April, 1919.
Sadly, the Great War was to take a heavy toll on the Ashcroft family, as two of Edward’s brothers were to be killed in action. Frederick was killed on 9 April 1917, on the opening day of the Battle of Arras, serving with the 18th Kings, and William was killed serving with the 19th Kings on 22 March 1918.
Researched and compiled by Peter Threlfall.
Birkenhead News 18 April 1918.
In 1896, Edward Stanley Ashcroft entered Birkenhead School, where he remained for the next four years. Before leaving in 1900, he had played a major part in the running of the school Sunday mission and had become Superintendent of the Sunday School. He had also been a Prefect, and had been Captain of the football XV, and a member of the cricket XI teams. After leaving school he initially went into business in Liverpool but subsequently worked in the office of his father’s business at Edward Hutchinson, Mersey Flour Mills. In his spare time, he played as a Three Quarter for the Birkenhead Park and Cheshire Rugby Clubs. In this capacity he had been chosen to play for the North of England but could not play owing to an injury. He had also been a keen golfer, playing for Prenton Golf Club.
Shortly after the outbreak of the Great War, he presented himself for enlistment as a private soldier, with his eldest brother, William, at St. George’s Hall, Liverpool, on 31 August 1914. He went on to train with this battalion at Knowsley Park Camp, and Grantham, having arrived there on 18 April 1915. It was during his training at Grantham, that Private Ashcroft either volunteered or was approached to train for a commission. He then travelled to Millbank, London, where he presented himself for enlistment into the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps on 31 July 1915, and was given the regimental number 5235. During his training, he was appointed to the rank of Lance Corporal on 12 October 1915 but was discharged on appointment to a commission in the 21st (Reserve) Bn. Kings (Liverpool) Regiment (stationed at Knowsley Park Camp, Prescot, Liverpool), on 25th October. This battalion had been formed in August 1915, from the Depot companies of the 17th and 18th Bn’s Kings (Liverpool) Regiment and remained as a Reserve Bn for the rest of the war. It left Knowsley Park Camp for Formby, in May 1916. Second Lieutenant Ashcroft trained at both locations until his posting orders came through to join the 12th Bn Kings (Liverpool) Regiment in France, in July 1916
On 15 July 1916, he embarked for France (almost certainly at Folkestone, Kent), and on arrival was probably sent to an Infantry Base Depot. Second Lieutenant Ashcroft finally joined his new battalion in the field, on the evening of 21 July 1916, with nine other new officers, when the battalion was occupying positions opposite Messines, in the Ypres Sector, Belgium. He continued to serve with this battalion during the Battle of The Somme at such places as Serre, Auchonvillers, Bernafay Wood, and Trones Wood, until 3 September 1916. On this date the 12th Bn Kings (Liverpool) Regiment were holding some craters to the south of Bernafay Wood, when they were given orders to move up to assembly trenches to the east of the wood. The battalion was attached to the 47th (Irish) Brigade, 16th (Irish) Division, and attacked the village of Guillemont at 12 noon, with the 12th Kings moving forward through Trones Wood at 12.25 p.m., and occupied Cornish Alley. At 4.00 p.m. two companies of the battalion moved forward to reinforce the men from the 7th Bn Leinster Regiment. During the events of that day, Second Lieutenant Ashcroft was severely wounded when he was struck by a piece of shell to the right frontal region of his head. He was evacuated away from the battlefield, and admitted to No.5 Casualty Clearing Station, based at Corbie, on the banks of the River Somme. Eventually he was sent to a hospital, being admitted on 4 September 1916. He then underwent an operation to have the shrapnel removed from his head. This resulted in a gap the size of a florin being left in his skull. Finally, on 14 September, he was embarked on board the Hospital Ship St. Andrew at Roeun, and was disembarked at Southampton two days later, and was admitted to the Empire Hospital that same day. On 7 October 1916, Second Lieutenant Ashcroft was declared as being unfit for army service for three months, and he was granted leave until 6 January 1917. During this time four medical boards sat to determine his condition and whether he was fit for active service again. At his final medical board, he had been suffering with Cerebral Concussion and had been attached to the 72nd Training Reserve Battalion, stationed at Prees Heath Camp, Salop, Shropshire. He was subsequently passed as fit, and promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, and on 25 September 1917, he embarked for France, and on 1October he joined the 17th Bn. Kings (Liverpool) Regiment and was posted to “C” Company.
Lieutenant Ashcroft served with the 17th Kings in the Hollebeke Sector of the Ypres Salient, Belgium, until 30 December 1917, when he was sent to 2nd Army Central School. He re-joined his battalion on 4th February 1918, when it was at Fargnier, and nine days later he was granted leave home (from 13-27 February 1918). Having re-joined his battalion on 28 February, Lieutenant Ashcroft continued to see action with it in the St. Quentin Right Sub-Sector, at such places as Beavois, Atilly (Aviation Wood), Ham, Moyencourt, Hangest, before returning to the Ypres Salient, on 4 April 1918. The 17th Kings first saw action back in this sector at Poelcapelle, where it was placed in support. It also saw action at St. Jans Cappel, prior to its move to the Voormezeele Sector of the line. Lieutenant Ashcroft went on to serve in this sector until 29 April 1918, when at 3.30 a.m. a heavy German artillery bombardment, consisting of high explosive and gas shells, opened up on the 17th Kings positions between Ridge Wood and Kruisstraathoek, and the road which connects Vierstraat with Ypres. This was later followed by a heavy infantry attack. The 17th Kings were in a desperate situation, being exhausted from the previous day’s heavy fighting, and already weakened by casualties, it did not take long for their positions to start crumbling. Despite furious fighting, the Germans broke through and managed to surround “A” Coy. All of the men of this company were either killed or taken prisoner-of-war. The rest of the battalion fell back to re-organise itself. During this action, it is not clear if Lieutenant Ashcroft was with “A” Coy. or had been wounded serving with another company. He had been severely wounded with a penetrating wound in his upper arm and the posterior and was one of the men reported as missing (he was not actually reported as missing until 1May, 1918).
Following his wounding and subsequent capture, he was taken to Reissen or Vuleus, and admitted to Bavarian Field Hospital 44, where he later died as a result of his wounds, on 12 May 1918. Some records state that Lieutenant Ashcroft was initially buried in Lauwe Military Cemetery, southwest of Courtrai. However, in the early 1920’s the Imperial War Graves Commission (later the Commonwealth War Graves Commission) decided to concentrate burials from the October, 1918 battlefields, and other German made out-lying war cemeteries, at Harlebeke, and Lieutenant Ashcroft’s body was exhumed and re-buried Plot 2, Row E, Grave 11, Harlebeke New Military Cemetery, Belgium.
After his parents had been notified of his death, a memorial service was held at the Birkenhead School Chapel in his memory, on 27 October 1918, the service being conducted by The Rev. C. A. MacVicar. He is commemorated in/on the following memorials:
Family application form requesting William to be added to the Birkenhead War Memorial.
Birkenhead School Roll of Honour Book
Prenton Golf Club war memorial
Birkenhead Park Rugby Club Roll of Honour Scroll
Lieutenant Ashcroft’s personal effects, consisting of 1x pair of gloves; 1x pipe; 1x cigarette case; 1x tobacco pouch; 5x note books; 1x cheque book; 1x advance book; 1x leather wallet; stamps; 1x Treasury note case; various letters and photographs; Treasury note for 10/-; 2x coins; 5x Francs; and 1x Army Book 439, were returned to his parents on 13th April, 1919.
Sadly, the Great War was to take a heavy toll on the Ashcroft family, as two of Edward’s brothers were to be killed in action. Frederick was killed on 9 April 1917, on the opening day of the Battle of Arras, serving with the 18th Kings, and William was killed serving with the 19th Kings on 22 March 1918.
Researched and compiled by Peter Threlfall.
Birkenhead News 18 April 1918.
The Late Lieut. W. Ashcroft
Lieut. William Ashcroft, who was killed in action on March 22nd, aged 36, was the eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles W. Ashcroft of Oxton, Birkenhead. He was educated at the Liverpool College and the Birkenhead School. From the latter school he proceeded with a scholarship to Caius College, Cambridge. He graduated B.A. in 1903, and subsequently proceeded to his M.A. degree. After leaving Cambridge he served under articles with Messrs. Whitley and Co., solicitors, Liverpool, and, being admitted solicitor, remained with that firm as managing clerk. In 1910 he became a member of the firm Dodds and Ashcroft (subsequently Dodds, Ashcroft and Cook), solicitors, Liverpool. He joined the forces as a private in September, 1914, took a commission in the King’s Liverpool Regiment in 1915. He was severely wounded in France in the spring of 1917, but made a good recovery, and at his own special request, was sent out again early this year. He was one of six brothers who joined the army in the early days of the war, and is the second of them to have laid down his life in the service of his country.
He was a prominent member of the Birkenhead Park Rugby Football Club, and had been chosen to represent his country. He was also an enthusiastic cricketer, and played for many years for the Oxton Cricket Club. He was secretary of the Old Birkonian Society, and was prominently associated with all movements in connection with the school. For many years he was superintendent at the Sunday School at Palm Grove Wesleyan Church, and only gave up that position to take up a similar but more important position as superintendent of the Sunday School at the Central Hall, Liverpool, a post which he held at the outbreak of war.
An article in a later edition of the Birkenhead News reports on William’s will, in which he bequeaths £500 for ‘the benefit of a war memorial for the Birkenhead School’.
William’s two brothers, Edward Stanley died in May 1918 and Frederick in April 1917
Birkenhead News article information and links to his brothers by Chris Booth
William’s two brothers, Edward Stanley died in May 1918 and Frederick in April 1917
Birkenhead News article information and links to his brothers by Chris Booth