Commemorated: | |||
| 1. Memorial: | Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Flanders | Panel 11. | |
| 2. Book: | The (1921) Masonic Roll of Honour 1914-1918 | Pg.131 | |
Awards & Titles: | |||
Family :
Son of William Lindsay Oliver, of 56, Greenwood Lane, Wallasey, Cheshire, and the late Eliza Lily Oliver.Service Life:
Campaigns:
- The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.
| Unit / Ship / Est.: 2/Scots Guards |
2nd Battalion August 1914 : at Tower of London. September 1914 : attached to 20th Brigade, 7th Division. 9 August 1915 : transferred to 3rd Guards Brigade, Guards Division |
| Action : The Battles of Ypres 1914 (First Ypres) |
19 October - 22 November 1914. Following the failure of the German Schlieffen Plan in August and September 1914, both sides engaged in a series of linked battles as they sought to outflank each other. The climax of these manouvres was at Ypres in November 1914 when the might of the German Army attempted to break the much outnumbered British Expeditionary Force. The political importance of Ypres, being the last town of any size in Belgium that remained in allied hands, established its importance for both sides and ensured a series of battles over four years.
The First Battle of Ypres in 1914 is characterised by a series of linked heroic stands by outnumbered British soldiers in conditions of confusion and weary endurance. The Germans never knew how close they had come to winning - at one point just the clerks and cooks were the last line of defence for the BEF. By the end of the battle the magnificent original BEF, composed of professional regular soldiers, had been all but destroyed and already the Territorial battalions were called into battle. From the end of 1914 a 'Regular' battalion was in terms of its compostion little different to a Teritorial or later Service Battalion. The professional soldiers had all but vanished.
8980 Lance Corporal OLIVER, William Lindsay, Scots Guards,F Company, 2nd Battalion. The son of William Lindsay Oliver of 56 Greenwood Lane, Wallsey, Cheshire and the late Eliza Lily Oliver he was born at Liverpool and resided at Liscard, Cheshire. He enlisted at age 14 as a Bugler into the Volunteer Battalion The King's Liverpool Regiment and served for six years attaining the rank of Sergeant. He joined the Duke of Lancaster's Own Yeomanry for four years and he was killed in action during the first Battle of Ypres on the 28th October 1914 aged 26. He is Remembered on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Belgium, Panel 11.
Masonic :
| Type | Lodge Name and No. | Province/District : |
|---|---|---|
| Mother : | Seacombe No. 3468 E.C. | Cheshire |
Initiated | Passed | Raised |
5th December 1912 | 2nd January 1913 | 3rd April 1913 |
Listed as a 25 year old Hotel Inspector from Egremont at the time of initiation in 1912. He is shown to have resigned in June 1914, prior to the war and does not appear to have joined any other lodge. He doesn't appear, therefore, as a subscribing member at the time of his death later that year.
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