Pte 17873 Walter Joseph Kempsey

• Age: 25
• From: Liverpool
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 19th Btn
• K.I.A Saturday 30th March 1918
• Commemorated at: Pozieres Memorial
  Panel Ref: P21-23

Walter Joseph Kempsey was born in Liverpool on 05th November 1892 the son of Frederick and Ann Elizabeth Kempsey.  

The 1901 Census finds the family living at 37 Church Road West, Walton. Walter is 8 years of age and living with his parents and 5 siblings. His father is a book keeper in a timber yard, born in Oldham in 1865, whilst his mother was born in Liverpool in 1867. His siblings, all born in Liverpool, are shown as;  Ada  b.1891, Frederick b.1894, William b.1897, Vincent b.1898 and Catherine b.1901. There is also a servant in the household.

By 1911 the family have moved to 114 Salisbury Road, Everton. His mother, now widowed is head of the household. Walter is now 18 and employed as a Clerk for a paint manufacturer.  His siblings still residing at home are; Ada Mary, Frederick, William, Vincent and Robert b.1908. Also in the household is Vincent Wrigley the brother of Ann Kempsey, he is also widowed and his 3 sons William, Francis and Joseph are also declared as living in the home.   

His cousin, named on the 1911 Census as living in the same household as Walter, was William Wrigley, he was also a Liverpool Pal, Private 21651 of 19th Battalion K.L.R. he was killed in action at Guillemont on 30th July 1916.  He now rests at Guillemont Road Cemetery, France.

Walter enlisted in Liverpool on 23rd September 1914 joining the 19^th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 17873. He gave his age as 20 years and 333 days and his occupation as a clerk. He is described as being 5' 6 inches tall, weighing 114lbs with a 35 inch chest. He is of sallow complexion with brown hair and eyes. He was posted to Depot on 29th April 1915 and rejoined his unit on 27th August 1915 at Belton Park.  

Formed on 07^th September 1914 the 19^th Battalion trained locally at Sefton Park and remained living at home or in rented accommodation until November 1914. They then moved to the hutted accommodation at Lord Derby’s estate at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 19th Battalion alongside the other three Pals battalions left Liverpool via Prescot Station for further training at Belton Park, Grantham. They remained here until September 1915 when they reached Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain. He arrived in France on 7^th November 1915.

He served with the 19th Battalion throughout the Somme battles of 1916, as well as the battles at Arras and Passchendaele in 1917. He was granted leave to the UK from 18th July 1917 returning to his unit on 31st July1917.  and was reported as missing between 22nd - 30th March 1918

Walter was reported as Missing in the local press on 4th June 1918.

His uncle, Vincent Kempsey, of 5 Cathedral Road, Anfield, enquired with the International Red Cross, but was notified in a reply dated 10th July 1918 that they held no information on Walter.

Further to this his mother puts a notice in the press on 31st July 1918

KEMPSEY - Missing since March 21 1918, Private WALTER KEMPSEY (17873) K.L.R. - Any information will be gratefully received by his mother, 5 Cathedral Road, Anfield.

It is not known when the family received final notification of Walter's death but the official records show that he was killed in action on the 30^th March 1918 during the opening phase of the German Spring Offensive.

As Graham Maddocks points out in his book The Liverpool Pals, the CWGC records 38 men of the 19^th Bn of The King’s Liverpool Regiment as killed in action on 30^th March 1918 when as the Battalion diary below, shown in bold type, records that the men were actually out of the line and safely on the way to St Valery- sur- Somme.

The composite battalion moved off from ROUVREL at 8.30 am at 50 yards interval between companies, arriving at SALEUX at 3.20 pm where they entrained, detraining at ST. VALERY-SUR-SOMME the same night. The night was spent at ST. VALERY-SUR-SOMME.

Apart from those whose bodies were not found and are commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial all but two have burial sites at Savy British Cemetery, which itself is within a couple of miles of Roupy and contains most of the identified men killed on 22^nd March 1918. Therefore, it would appear that the date of death for these men shown as 30^th March 1918 is purely an arbitrary one and that they were in fact killed on 22^nd March.

Walter has no known grave and is commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial in France.

The POZIERES MEMORIAL relates to the period of crisis in March and April 1918 when the Allied Fifth Army was driven back by overwhelming numbers across the former Somme battlefields, and the months that followed before the Advance to Victory, which began on 8 August 1918. The Memorial commemorates over 14,000 casualties of the United Kingdom and 300 of the South African Forces who have no known grave and who died on the Somme from 21 March to 7 August 1918.

The cemetery and memorial were designed by W.H. Cowlishaw, with sculpture by Laurence A. Turner. The memorial was unveiled by Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien on 4 August 1930.

Walter is commemorated on the Liverpool Hall of Remembrance at Panel 68. 

He earned his three medals.

Soldiers Effects to mother Ann E. and brothers Frederick, William, Vincent, Robert and sisters Ada M, Katherine.

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