Skip to main content

William Frederick Rolfe

A Pioneer with B Special Company, William died on 5th of April 1917 at the age of 19. 

William was born at Pakefield on 12 July 1897, a son of George and Emily Rolfe. From 12 July 1900 to 7 July 1911 William was a pupil at Cunningham School. In 1901 his family lived at Florence Road, Carlton Colville, and in 1911 at 1 Twyford Cottages, Blackheath Road. In 1915 they lived at 2 Blackheath Road, and later his parents lived at 182 Denmark Road, Lowestoft.

William was living at 2 Blackheath Road, Kirkley, and working as a carman, when he volunteered and enlisted in the Army at Lowestoft on 24 February 1915. He joined the Royal Field Artillery, service number 97842. He was posted to the 4th Depot before joining the 4th Reserve Brigade on 10 March 1915. William embarked for France on 4 May 1915. On 10 May 1915 he joined 119th Battery in the field and, on 16 May 1915, was posted to 27th Brigade (Division?) Ammunition Column. William was posted to 5th Divisional Ammunition Column on 21 May 1916. He was posted to A.H.T.D. on 26 May 1916 and, on 29 May 1916, was posted to the Base.

William was transferred to the Royal Engineers on 18 July 1916, service number 192775. On 19 July 1916 he joined No 1 Battalion Special Brigade as a Pioneer and was posted to B Special Company.

The Special Brigades of the Royal Engineers were responsible for the use of weapons including gas, flame throwers and Livens projectors. In April 1917 William’s unit had two main roles: laying down smokescreens and using trench mortars to deliver ‘lethal bombs’ containing White Star gas.  

The B Special Company war diary gives no information about what happened to William, but we do know that he was killed in action and that on 8-9 April his unit were preparing for using smoke projectors in support of 17 Infantry Brigade’s operations and 73 Infantry Brigade’s attack on Bois-en-Hache. 

Lived at

William Rolfe
182
Denmark Road
Lowestoft
United Kingdom

52.4752238, 1.7421259

CountryOfService
United Kingdom
BranchService
Army
Regiment
Royal Engineers
ServiceNumber
192775
Burial/Memorial
France
LOOS MEMORIAL
Panel 4 and 5.

Add new comment

Restricted HTML

  • Allowed HTML tags: <h3>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.