Pte 23634 William Hale Simcock

• Age: 22
• From: Tarporley, Cheshire
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 17th Btn
• K.I.A Sunday 30th July 1916
• Commemorated at: Thiepval Memorial
  Panel Ref: P&F1D8B &8 C.

William Hale Simcock was born on 21st November 1893 at Hill Farm, Burwardsley, Tarporley, Cheshire and was baptised on Christmas Eve, 24th December 1893 at Burwardsley. He was the son of Thomas Henry Simcock and his wife Ann (née Mottershead). His parents married in 1885 at St Mary, Coddington and had eight children.  Their first born, James John, died in infancy.  William had older siblings Elizabeth Ann, Thomas Henry, Ida Mary, and John Arthur, and younger siblings Edith Marion and James Harold.

At the time of the 1901 census his parents are farmers living at Moat House (farm), in Alpraham. Sixteen people live on the farm. They have seven children, plus a nephew Thomas H. Simcock, 21, a horseman on the farm, a niece Mary E. Simcock who is a domestic servant, a visitor George G. Frost, 18, a horseman, two other domestic servants and two cattlemen.  William is 7.

Moat House was a black and white gabled farmhouse on the Peckforton estate of Lord Tollemache. The farm was well-regarded in the world of dairy farming; his father was a noted cheese maker.

Alpraham was a centre of Methodism in Cheshire in the 1700s. John Wesley, the founder of the Wesleyan Methodist movement, was a frequent visitor to the area, and preached at the Moat Farm farmhouse in 1749.

The 1911 Census shows the family are still resident at Moat House, Alpraham, Tarporley, Cheshire.

His father, Thomas Henry, is aged 57, born 1854 in Flint, North Wales, is a farmer, his mother, Ann, is aged 55,  born 1856, also in Flint, has no occupation listed. They advise that they have been married for twenty six years and have had eight children of which one had sadly died.  The children resident at the household are shown as;  Elizabeth Ann aged 24, born 1887 is a farmer’s daughter doing dairy work, Thomas Henry aged 22, born 1889 is a farmer’s son working on the farm, Ida Mary aged 20, born 1890  is a farmer’s daughter working in the household, John Arthur aged 19, born 1892,  a farmer’s son working on the farm, William Hale aged 17, no occupation listed. All were all born in Burwardsley, Cheshire. Edith Marian aged 15, born 1896 and works in the household of the family farm and James Harold aged 12, born 1899 is still at school were born in Alpraham, Cheshire. Also living with them is their niece Hilda Mottershead, aged19, born 1892 and working on the farm doing dairy work. They have a visitor Stanley Chester Parker aged 22, born 1889 a builders assistant born in Bunbury, Cheshire, (who will marry eldest daughter Elizabeth the following year). They also have two servants working as farm labourers Joseph Mitchell aged 45, born 1866  (who had worked on the farm since 1879 and would stay there for over 53 years) and John Sumner aged 65, born 1846.      

He enlisted in Liverpool, around December 1914, joining in the 17^th Battalion of The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 23634.

He was billeted at Prescot Watch Factory, he trained there and also at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 17th 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. 

William arrived in France with his battalion on 07th November 1915.

He was killed in action on the 30^th July 1916, aged 22, at the village of Guillemont, France, during the Somme Offensive.

17th Battalion Diary 30th July 1916

The Battalion was in support to 19 & 20 Battalions K.L.R. 2 Coys. behind 19th & 2 Coys. behind 20th. Very thick mist. The attack was pushed home to the objective in places but in the main was held up by machine gun fire from hidden machine guns.

Fighting continued all day swaying backwards and forwards until by 6pm about 300 yards in depth had been gained & consolidated all along our front.

Casualties in the 17th Battalion were 15 Officers and 281 Other Ranks

Further details are reported in more detailed by Everard Wyrall in his book The History of the King’s Regiment (Liverpool) 1914-1919 Volume II 1916-1917

The 17th King’s had advanced (two companies each behind the 19th and 20th Battalions) in small columns. They too suffered heavily from machine-gun fire and were quickly absorbed into the waves that preceded them. They also shared the gains and losses of that terrible day.

When darkness fell on the battlefield the 30th Division held a line from the railway on the eastern side of Trones Wood , southwards and including Arrow Head Copse, to east of Maltz Horn Farm. On this line the division was relieved by the 55th Division during the early hours of the 31st July. 

The events of 30th July 1916 were regarded at the time as Liverpool’s blackest day. There follows an extract from The History of the 89th Brigade written by Brigadier General Ferdinand Stanley which gives an indication of the events of the day.

Guillemont

Well the hour to advance came, and of all bad luck in the world it was a thick fog; so thick that you couldn’t see more than about ten yards. It was next to impossible to delay the attack – it was much too big an operation- so forward they had to go. It will give some idea when I say that on one flank we had to go 1,750 yards over big rolling country. Everyone knows what it is like to cross enclosed country which you know really well in a fog and how easy it is to lose your way. Therefore, imagine these rolling hills, with no landmarks and absolutely unknown to anyone. Is it surprising that people lost their way and lost touch with those next to them? As a matter of fact, it was wonderful the way in which many men found their way right to the place we wanted to get to. But as a connected attack it was impossible.

The fog was intense it was practically impossible to keep direction and parties got split up. Owing to the heavy shelling all the Bosches had left their main trenches and were lying out in the open with snipers and machine guns in shell holes, so of course our fellows were the most easy prey.

It is so awfully sad now going about and finding so many splendid fellows gone.

William's body was not recovered from the battlefield or was subsequently lost as he has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme.

The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916. 

On 01st August 1932 the Prince of Wales and the President of France inaugurated the Thiepval Memorial in Picardy. The inscription reads: “Here are recorded the names of officers and men of the British Armies who fell on the Somme battlefields between July 1915 and March 1918 but to whom the fortune of war denied the known and honoured burial given to their comrades in death.”

William earned his three medals.

Soldiers Effects, his Army pay and a War Gratuity of £6-10s went to his father.  No pension card has been found, suggesting either that William had left home and lived independently before enlisting, or that his father made no application.

An In Memoriam notice was placed in the local press on the first anniversary of his death; 

SIMCOCK - In sad but loving memory of Private W. Simcock, Liverpool Pals, who was killed in action July 30th 1916.

One long sad year has passed

Since our great sorrow fell

Deep in our hearts we mourn the loss

Of him we loved so well

But in the morn his angel face will smile

Which we have loved long since and lost awhile.

(Sadly missed by sister and brother-in-law.)

 His brother, James served as a Flight Lieutenant in the R.A.F.

Thomas served in the Lancashire Fusiliers, and was transferred to the Welsh Regiment. He suffered gunshot wounds to the left thigh, and contracted malaria. He was demobbed in September 1919 with a disability pension. 

His sister Edith, 25, was killed in a cycling accident in 1921.  

His mother died in 1926 aged 70, and his father in 1936 at the age of 82.

William is commemorated on the Bunbury Memorial.

In April 1918 permission was given to erect a brass tablet, mounted on oak, in St. Jude's Church, Tilstone Fearnall, as a memorial to William: 

            TO THE GLORY OF GOD

                AND IN MEMORY OF

           WILLIAM HALE SIMCOCK

PRIVATE THE KINGS LIVERPOOL REGt

       WHO WAS KILLED IN ACTION

 ON 30th JULY 1916 AGED 22 YEARS

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