Name
William Barker I’Anson
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
07/10/1916
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lance Corporal
18850
Royal Fusiliers *1
9th (County of London) Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
THIEPVAL MEMORIAL
Pier & Face 8C, 9A & 16A
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin War Memorial, St Mary's Church Roll of Honour, Hitchin, No on the Great Offley Village memorials
Pre War
He was a resident of Offley but enlisted in Bedford. His father was farm bailiff at Offley Holes Farm near Hitchin.
Wartime Service
He joined the 9th Battalion of the Regiment as Number 18850. The Battalion was part of the 36th Brigade in the 12th (Eastern) Division. He was killed in action in France. On the 6th October 1916 the 9th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers was in reserve to the west of Gueudecourt on the Somme. On the 7th October the Battalion moved to the Gird Support Line and sustained heavy casualties during an attack on Bayonet Trench.
It had rained for days, the men were soaked with liquid mud for days on end and the sick rate was enormous. The 9th Battalion was on the extreme right of the attack They were faced with a network of trenches and strong points and did not reach their objectives. Their attack commenced at 1.45pm, but Bayonet Trench was not reached. Artillery and machine gun fire were so heavy that the front companies were mown down and the Battalion lost 15 officers and 250 other ranks. The Battalion received the following message from General Boyd Moss "Will you please thank all ranks in your Battalion for the magnificent gallantry they displayed yesterday. They advanced steadily under a heavy fire which only the best troops could have faced. Though Unfortunately, unsuccessful, their gallant conduct has added to the fine reputation which you have already won for yourselves".
He has no known grave and is remembered on Pier Faces 8C, 9A and 16A of the great Thiepval Memorial to the Missing in France.
Additional Information
He had another son Walter who was twice wounded whilst serving in the Essex Regiment. Their father said "We are proud of them both and I should hate to think that I was the father of a shirker".
*1 Probably more correctly (County of London) Bn.
London Regiment (Queen Victoria’s Rifles).
Acknowledgments
Adrian Pitts, David C Baines, Jonty Wild
