Name
William (Willie) Brown
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
26/03/1917
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
200077
Essex Regiment
4th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
JERUSALEM MEMORIAL
Panels 32 to 38.
Israel and Palestine (including Gaza)
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Gilston War Memorial
Pre War
Willie was born in Hatfield Heath, Essex, in about
1892, he was one of six children born to Oswald and Eliza Brown. In June 1915
he had already joined the army and was living in St Albans, when on the 14th he
married Elsie Alice Brown in Saint Mary Magdalene Church in Harlow, Essex.
Wartime Service
The 1/4 Battalion of the Essex Regiment sailed from the UK on the 27th July 1915 and arrived, via Malta and Lemnos, in Gallipoli 15 days later. They stayed in Gallipoli until evacuated on the 3rd December 1915, then after a short break in Moudros arrived in Alexandria on the 16th December 1915.
At 4pm on the 26th March 1917 the Battalion went in to action near Gaza,
Egypt, they suffered 474 casualties including 5 Officers and 49 Other Ranks
killed, Willie may have been one of the men killed in this action.
Additional Information
His Widow Elsie Alice’s maiden name was also Brown
Acknowledgments
Andrew Palmer
Anthony Hodgkins, Andrew Palmer
