William Robert Burgess

A Private with the 1st Battalion, William died on 3rd of July 1916 at the age of 35. 

William was born at Lowestoft in 1880, a son of Robert and Ellen Burgess. He was baptised at Saint Margaret’s Church on 27 February 1881. In 1881 his family lived at 11 Wollaston Road. By 1891 they were living at 62 Seago Street. By 1901 they were living at 70 Seago Street and William was a general labourer.

In the early years of the Twentieth Century William had a number of encounters with the law and, in 1911, when he had been working as a fisherman, he was sent to prison at Bodmin. 

William volunteered and enlisted in the Army at Lincoln. He joined the Lincolnshire Regiment, service number 16221. In May 1915 he was serving with the 3rd Battalion and was insubordinate to a Corporal. He attended a Court Martial on 7 May and was sentenced to 56 days imprisonment. This sentence was commuted to allow William to be posted to the 1st Battalion in France and he arrived there on 30 June 1915. 

On the morning of 14 March 1916, the 1st Battalion paraded for inspection before departing for front line trenches. William deserted the battalion on that day. Subsequently he was arrested and faced a Court Martial at Le Neuville on 8 May 1916. He was one of six men from the 1st Battalion to face Courts Martial in May 1916, all of whom received very severe sentences. William was found guilty of desertion and sentenced to death. However, his sentenced was commuted to ten years’ penal servitude. His sentence was suspended which allowed him to rejoin the battalion. 

On 3 July 1916 the 1st Battalion were to attack Birch Tree and Shelter Woods, as part of the opening stages of the Battle of the Somme. Their objective was a trench running along the north edge of Birch Tree and Shelter Woods as far as a railway line on their right and they were to be supported by the 12th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers. The attack was preceded by a bombardment and, at 9 a.m., the battalion rushed the enemy positions.
On reaching a ridge in front of the wood they came under heavy machine-gun fire from both flanks. About this time their commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Grant, was seriously wounded. They now came under bomb attack from the flanks and the battalion’s bombers had to repel a string party of the enemy attacking from the flank. The battalion faced continued stubborn resistance on the left, but made better progress on the right and were able to take a large number of prisoners. By 5 p.m. the battalion held the whole of Birch Tree and Shelter Woods and were then subject to heavy enemy bombardment. During the day the battalion had captured 700 prisoners. 

The battalion’s casualties were:
Officers: three killed, six wounded
Other ranks: 34 killed, 191 wounded, 9 missing

William was one of the men killed in action on 3 July. 

Note: William earned the 1914/15 Star. Medal rolls show that this was forfeited because of William’s desertion. However, in the early 1920s there was a general amnesty for deserters, and any men who had had medals forfeited, but who had then lost their lives, were restored to the roll and all the medals they were originally entitled to would have been sent to their families. William was ‘restored to the roll.’