Pte 32156 William Henry Edwards

• Age: 26
• From: Toxteth, Liverpool
• Regiment: East Lancashire Regiment
• Died on Wednesday 27th March 1918
• Commemorated at: Arras Memorial
  Panel Ref: Bay 6

William Henry Edwards was born in 1892 and baptised 22nd November 1892 at Holy Trinity Church, Toxteth Park, Liverpool. He was the son of William Edwards and his wife Eugenie (nee Brown). His parents married in 1886 at Our Lady and St Nicholas Church, Liverpool. 

The 1901 Census finds the family living at 7 Moses Street, Toxteth.  William is 8 years of age and is living with his parents, five siblings and his grandmother Sarah Brown a 63 year old widow born in Carlisle. His father is a 40 year old gardener born in Chester in 1861, whilst his mother is 36 years of age and was born in Liverpool in 1865. His siblings, all born in Liverpool are listed as; Alexandra  aged 13, Edith 12, Annie 10, Julia 6 and George 3.  

The family are still resident at 7 Moses Street at the time of the 1911 Census. William, now aged 18 is employed as a gardener and lives with his parents, grandmother and three siblings. His parents advise that they have been married for 25 years and have had 8 children six of whom have survived. Those siblings living at home are; Edith May aged 22 and an ironer, Julie aged 16 and Geroge Victor a 13 year old schoolboy. His grandmother is now shown as being aged 79.. 

William enlisted in Liverpool as Private 33203 and was later transferred to the 11th Battalion of the East Lancashire Regiment as Private 32156.

He was initially declared missing but his death was later accepted to have occured on 27th March 1918 during the German Spring Offensive. He was 26 years of age.

His body was not recovered from the battlefield or was subsequently lost as William's name is commeorated on the Arras Memorial in France.

The ARRAS MEMORIAL commemorates almost 35,000 servicemen from the United Kingdom, South Africa and New Zealand who died in the Arras sector between the spring of 1916 and 7 August 1918, the eve of the Advance to Victory, and have no known grave. The most conspicuous events of this period were the Arras offensive of April-May 1917, and the German attack in the spring of 1918. Canadian and Australian servicemen killed in these operations are commemorated by memorials at Vimy and Villers-Bretonneux. A separate memorial remembers those killed in the Battle of Cambrai in 1917. Both cemetery and memorial were designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, with sculpture by Sir William Reid Dick. The memorial was unveiled by Lord Trenchard, Marshal of the Royal Air Force on the 31 July 1932 (originally it had been scheduled for 15 May, but due to the sudden death of French President Doumer, as a mark of respect, the ceremony was postponed until July).

His mother anxious for news of William wrote to the British Red Cross in November 1918 asking for information and again a request for information was placed in the Liverpool Echo on 04th December 1918:

NEWS WANTED

Reported missing March 27th last, Private W. Edwards (Billy), East Lancs, previously the Pals. News from returning prisoners of war welcomed by his mother, 3 Dentwood Street, (late Moses Street) Dingle.    

His father died in 1916. Soldiers effects and pension to his mother Eugenie.

His mother Eugenie died, aged 68, in the March quarter of 1933.

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