Pte 51963 William James Hoos

• Age: 28
• From: Kirkdale, Liverpool
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 17th Btn
• K.I.A Thursday 12th October 1916
• Commemorated at: Warlencourt Brit Cem
  Panel Ref: V.A.29

William James Hoos was born on the 17th May 1887 in Liverpool and baptised 26th May 1887 at St Peter, Church of England, Liverpool. He was the son of James Hoos and his wife Martha Ann (nee King) who had married in November 1877 at St Timothys Church, Everton.

The 1891 census shows the family living at 6 Prince Edwin Lane, Everton. William’s father James is a plumber aged 38, and his mother Martha is 37. He has siblings: Eleanor aged 11, George 9, Martha 6 and Albert aged 1. The couple had also had two sons who had died in childhood : David who was born in 1878 and had died at the age of 10 weeks, and Thomas who had died at 3 months in 1884. All the family were born in Liverpool.

By the time of the 1901 census the family were living at 122 Prince Edwin Lane. William’s younger brother Albert had died aged just 22 months and was buried in January 1892 in Kirkdale Cemetery, the same year as Elizabeth his sister was born.

The 1911 Census shows the family at 54 Mackenzie Street Everton Liverpool. James and Martha have four of their children living at home, Eleanor now aged 31, who is a General Shop Keeper, Martha Jane aged 27, whose occupation is Book Sewing and Folding, William James is aged 23 is a Carter and Elizabeth Ann aged 19, is a Vest Maker. William’s brother George by then had been married for six years and had three small children.

William married Florence Elizabeth Rycraft in 1915, their marriage is recorded as being in the second quarter of that year. His mother Martha died early in 1916 and was buried in Kirkdale Cemetery on the 9th January.

William James enlisted in Liverpool and was serving in the 17th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 51963 when he was killed in action on the 12th October 1916 aged 28 during the Battle of the Transloy Ridges which was part of the ongoing Somme Offensive.

17th Bn War Diary: Battle of Transloy Ridge –

11-10-16 - Gird Trench/Gird Support – Battalion in front line and support trenches. British bombardment of enemy front line system commenced about midday. Hostile shelling was intermittent throughout the day.

12-10-16 - Our bombardment continued. Enemy reply weak. 2.5 p.m. Zero hour. Attack on German front line system commenced. Enemy wire was found to be uncut and attack was unsuccessful. Hostile machine gun fire was very heavy and caused many casualties. Battalion H.Q. and Support Trench were heavily shelled throughout afternoon and evening. […] During this action all communication had to be carried out by runners and carrier pigeons as all wires were being continually cut by enemy shelling.

Casualties: 5 officers killed, 5 officers wounded, 38 OR killed, about 225 OR wounded/missing etc.

Graham Maddocks, in “Liverpool Pals” p.140, adds: “As the whistle blew, the 17th Battalion left its trenches to move forward. […] As soon as the attacking waves left their trenches the enemy artillery began to register on them, and at the same time, the defending infantry commenced a murderous rain of fire. […] Although their numbers had been depleted by the British bombardment, they were trained and experienced soldiers, well dug in on high ground, and for the most part, looking out on uncut wire. As such, it was virtually impossible for them to miss the City Battalion men struggling to advance in the mud towards them. The 17th Battalion, on the left, was particularly badly hit, as its portion of No Man’s Land contained a slight rise in the ground, and as the troops emerged onto it they were silhouetted against the sky and became easy targets. Those on the left of the attack, who managed to avoid the hail of bullets and make it to the German wire, then found that it was totally uncut, and thus trapped, they too became easy targets, to be picked off almost at the enemy’s will. It was hardly surprising that, seeing the first waves being wiped out, some of the following waves turned back and made for their start lines. These lines were now packed with other waves of troops, however, and the fleeing men added to the congestion already there, and became easy prey for the German gunners. There is some evidence also, to suggest that at this stage, the British trenches were also being hit by their own heavy artillery shells which were falling short.”

William James rests at Warlencourt British Cemetery, France.

Warlencourt Cemetery is entirely a concentration cemetery, begun late in 1919 when graves were brought in from small cemeteries and the battlefields of Warlencourt and Le Sars.  The Graves Registration form shows graves from “Le Sars 6/1, 6/2, Hexham Road, Seven Elms”.

Graves were brought in from the original cemeteries at Hexham Road (Le Sars), and Seven Elms (Flers), as well as over 3,000 British graves due to the fighting which took place around the Butte de Warlencourt from the autumn of 1916 to the spring of 1917, and again in the German advance and retreat of 1918.   The cemetery now contains 3,505 Commonwealth burials and commemorations of the First World War, 1,823 of which are unidentified.

He is also commemorated on the War Memorial at St Athanasius’ C. of E. Church, Kirkdale.

A photograph of William appeared in the Liverpool Echo of the 16th December 1916 together with the report that:

Private William James Hoos aged twenty nine, of the King’s (Liverpool Regiment) has been killed in action in France. He was the son of James and the late Martha Ann Hoos of 54 Mackenzie Street, Everton, Liverpool.

The mother Martha died aged 61 in 1916  and father James died aged 67 in 1919.

Soldiers Effects and Pensions to Florence E., 54 Mackenzie St. 

His widow Florence, aged 37, father Henry Horatio, remarried to Robert Francis Jones on the 29th April 1919 at St. Nathaniel, Edge Hill, both of Portwood St. 

We currently have no further information on William James Hoos, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.