Early Life :

Family :

Education & Career :

At the 1881 Census, the family was living at 8, Walmer Place, Gorton, Lancashire. William (Jnr.) was a 14-year-old scholar and had been born in Peckham, Surrey. His 39-year-old father had been born in St Austell, Cornwall, was employed as an “Edition of Design and Work Mechanics and Electricity”. Mary was 36 and had been born in Chelsea, Middlesex. William (Jnr.) had six siblings; Mary E, Ada P, Alice H, Rose B, Lilian G and Florence M. Their ages were 15, 13, 11, 9, 4 and 2 respectively. The birthplaces for Mary (Jnr.), Ada and Alice were Pimlico, Peckham, Bermondsey, whilst the remaining three were all born in Gorton, Lancashire.

By the 1891 Census, the family had moved to 55, Shakespeare Street, Charlton on Wenlock, Manchester. His father was now employed as a Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent and William (Jnr.) was working as a Consulting Engineer’s Assistant. Mary (Jnr.) and Alice were not present and there was now a second son, 8-year-old Frank. Also living there is a 20-year-old domestic servant, Harriet. William (Snr.) collaborated with a local company David Moseley and Sons to patent a method for erecting telephony cables. The company was one of the earliest British companies to be active in the telephony industry.

William (Jnr.) married Marion Blain on 7 Sep 1892 at St Clement Longsight, Manchester. When he was initiated into the East Lancashire Centurion Lodge of the Free Masons on 4 November 1895, he gave his residence as Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester and his employment as a Consulting Engineer.

William was not present at the 1901 Census and 30-year-old Marion was shown as the head of the household “living on own means” at 1 Boscombe Road, Blackpool. The family included seven-year-old Duncan (incorrectly annotated as “wife”), one-year-old son Philip and 22-year-old Florence (incorrectly annotated as “son-in-law”). Also present were two servants; a cook named Edith Stringer and housemaid names Ethel Cocker.

At the 1911 Census, William and his family had moved to 2, Osborne Road Blackpool. He is now 44 years old and employed as a Chartered Patent Agent. Marion is now 41 and they have two sons; 17-year-old George Duncan Arthur and 11-year-old Harold Philip. Also present are two servants; a domestic cook, Harriet Kinmouth, and a housemaid, Annie Weller.

Although the family were primarily based in the north west, William (Snr.) had moved to Bushey by the 1911 census and was then living at “Rostherne”, Aldenham Road (this was the third house along from Beechcroft Road in the direction of Bushey Grove Road). He is already listed in the Kelly’s Directory for 1908, with an address of Llanberis, Bushey Hall Road, New Bushey.

William (Jnr.) and his family remained based in the north-west, but he also stayed with his father at ‘Rostherne’ Aldenham Road, Bushey. This was presumably to assist him with his consultancy practice, even though William (Snr.) is recorded as “retired” at the 1911 census whilst still listed in the Kelly’s directories for 1912 and 1914.

Service Life:

Campaigns:

• The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.

The Gallipoli Campaign was fought on the Gallipoli peninsula 25th April 1915 to 9th January 1916. in a failed attempt to defeat Turkey by seizing the Dardanelles and capturing Istanbul. Ill-conceived and planned, the initial effort by the Royal Navy failed to force passage through the Dardanelles by sea power alone. It was then realised that a land force was needed to support the project by suppressing the Turkish mobile artillery batteries. By the time all was ready the Turks were well aware and well prepared. Despite amazing heroics on the day of the landings only minor beachheads were achieved and over the succeeding 8 months little progress was made. Eventually the beachheads were evacuated in a series of successful ruses.

Despite Gallipoli rightly becoming a national source of pride to Australians and New Zealanders, far more British casualties were sustained, and these days the substantial French contribution is almost forgotten.

Detail :

After returning to Egypt he took the battalion to Gallipoli where on 4 June 1915, due to the wounds received by Brigadier Noel Lee, he was placed in command of the Brigade. Whilst inspecting a captured Turkish trench he was killed, age 48. Buried Lancashire Landing Cemetery, Gallipoli. Plot A29. Sources; Robert Bonner ? The Manchester Regiment Group Forum 3rd Battle of Krythia On the 29th Division?s right, the 42nd Division attacked with the four Manchester Regiment battalions of the 127th Brigade in the first wave with two battalions of the Lancashire Fusiliers following the attacking waves. Here the attack opened well and within five minutes the Turkish first line had been captured. The whole of the division?s objective was soon taken, except on the extreme left (next to the 29th Division) where the wire in front was uncut. For the first hour everything went well. The 127th Brigade advanced about 1000 yards and over 200 prisoners were taken. The Official History states that: the Turks were on the run. Hunter-Weston now issued orders to consolidate the ground gained. The 42nd Division as far as was known was still in a good position, although the 127th Brigade commander, Brigadier- General Lee, had by now been mortally wounded in the throat by a shell and his successor, Lt.-Col. Heys had been killed outright4. It was unfortunate that at about 16.00 the Turkish reserves had came into action and soon after Hunter-Weston?s order to consolidate, word reached corps HQ that the 127th Brigade was now being hard-pressed. From this point on the situation grew steadily worse. At 18.00 the Brigade was being attacked from three sides and the leading troops? withdrawal was eventually approved by Hunter-Weston. A company of the 1/6 Manchesters however was unable to comply and was practically wiped out. By nightfall the greater part of the ground captured during the attack had been given up. Of 16,000 officers and men engaged, the British had lost 4,500. Br.-Gen. Lee was subsequently evacuated to Malta where he died from haemorrhage due to the reopening of his wounds. He is buried in Pieta Military Cemetery. See Frank Davies & Graham Maddocks, Bloody Red Tabs: General Officer Casualties of the Great War, 1914- 1918, (Leo Cooper, London, 1995) pp81-2.

William lost his life, aged 48 years, whilst leading his men in the thick of the battle, but by the end and after being forced to withdraw, their new front line was a mere 200 to 250 yards in front of their start line, passing through a patch of vines that earned the area the name of ‘The Vineyard’, which was to be the site of heavy fighting again in the August.

British troops suffered a loss of 4,500 men during the battle, whilst the French lost 2,000 men and the Turkish force is estimated to have lost around 10,000 men.
Source: The Provincial Grand Lodge of West Lancashire.

William now lays at rest in Grave A 29, Lancashire Landing Cemetery, Gallipoli. He is also believed to be commemorated on the Athenaeum Club Memorial, Manchester, (currently located at the Grand Pacific Bar and Restaurant, King Street, Manchester, M2 4ST), although the name is recorded as Lieutenant Colonel William George Heyes. William was mentioned in despatches.

The Probate record for William in 1915 gives the address as Darley Croft, Darley Avenue, West Didsbury, Manchester and his profession as a Consulting engineer and patent agent. He left an estate of £5,131 to Marion.

At sometime after William’s death, Marion moved to 15 Crescent Road, Altrincham in Cheshire and his medal record card gives her address as 6, Willowtree Rd, Altrincham.

Masonic :

When he was initiated into the East Lancashire Centurion Lodge of the Free Masons on 4 November 1895, he gave his residence as Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester and his employment as a Consulting Engineer.

Past Master

Source :

The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:

• The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• The (UK) National Archives
• Ancestry.co.uk - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History online
• ugle.org.uk - The records of the United Grand Lodge of England including the Library and Museum of Freemasonry

Additional Source:

• Founder Researchers : Paul Masters & Mike McCarthy
• Researcher : Bruce Littley