Capt Arthur de Bells Adam (MC)
1885 - 1916

CPL David Wallace Crawford
1887 - 1916

Lce-Corpl John Joseph Nickle
1894 - 1916

Pte 17911 Morton Neill
1897 - 1916

Lieut Edward Stanley Ashcroft
1883 - 1918

L/Cpl 52195 William Fletcher

Age: 25
From: Bolton, Lancs
Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 19th Btn
K.I.A Saturday 30th March 1918
Commemorated at: Savy Brit Cem
Panel Ref: Roupy Rd. Mem. 53

William Fletcher was born in Bolton in March 1893, the son of Albert Edward Fletcher and his wife Catherine known as Kate, (née Johnston). His father from Manchester, and his mother, from London, married in Bolton in 1889, and had six children. The family moved back and forth between Bolton and Hulme, Manchester. Alice was born in Bolton in 1889, and baptised in the Wesleyan Chapel, Bolton. By the time James was born in late 1891 his parents were living in Manchester, but shortly after moved back to Bolton, where William was born, and baptised in Holy Trinity, Bolton, on 19th April 1893, his parents’ residence 57 Venture Street, and his father’s occupation listed as printer. The family returned to Manchester, where two daughters were born, Florence in 1895, and Beatrice in 1897. By the time Nellie was born in 1898 the family was back in Bolton.

By 1901 the family is back in Hulme, Manchester, living at 6 Overton Street. His father Allbert E., is a 42 year old letterpress machine man, his mother Annie is aged 42. Thye have sx children in the household; Alice M. 11 b.Bolton, James E. 9 b.Manchester, William 8 b.Bolton, Florrie 5 b.Manchester, Beatrice 3 b.Manchester, and Nellie 2 b.Bolton.

The 1911 Census finds the family at 90 Mytton Street, Hulme. His parents are both 52, his father is a letterpress printer, mother Kate advises that they have been married for 22 years and have had 6 children, all of whom are declared on the record; James E.,19 and William, 18, are letterpress apprentices. Alice M., 21, and Florry M., 15, are also employed in a printing works. Beatrice B., 13, and Nellie, 12, are at school.

William enlisted in Manchester and originally served as Private 3338, Manchester Regiment but following a transfer he was serving in the 19^th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Lance-Corporal No 52195 when he was killed in action on the 30^th March 1918 during 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.

William is commemorated in Savy British Cemetery, France, where a Special Kipling Memorial reads:

“To the Memory of these 68 British Soldiers who were killed in action in March 1918 and buried at the time in the German Cemetery on the St. Quentin - Roupy Road, whose graves are now lost.”

Savy was taken by the 32nd Division on the 1st April 1917, after hard fighting, and Savy Wood on the 2nd. On the 21st March 1918 Savy and Roupy were successfully defended by the 30th Division, but the line was withdrawn after nightfall. The village and the wood were retaken on the 17th September 1918 by the 34th French Division, fighting on the right of the British IX Corps.

Savy British Cemetery was made in 1919, and the graves from the battlefields and from the following small cemeteries in the neighbourhood were concentrated into it.

There are now over 850, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, more than half are unidentified. Memorials are erected in the cemetery to 68 soldiers (chiefly of the 19th King's Liverpools and the 17th Manchesters), buried by the Germans in their cemetery on the St. Quentin-Roupy road, whose graves were destroyed by shell fire.

The Cemetery covers an area of 2,555 square metres and is enclosed by a low rubble wall.

William’s name was among the list of Missing published in the Weekly Casualty List on 04th June 1918.

- Fletcher 52195 L-Cpl W. (Hulme);

His family appealed for information in the Manchester Evening News on 29th April 1918:

“Lce-Corpl. William Fletcher (52195) King’s Liverpools, posted missing beginning of March. Sisters: 90 Mytton Street, Hulme”

Mr. James Roughley, of 20 Gray Street, Ancoats, Manchester, made enquiries with the International Red Cross, requesting information on L/Cpl William Fletcher, K.L.R. (but no regimental number provided), serving in A Company, 3rd Platoon, Lewis Gun Section, missing since 22/28.3.1918. He received a reply dated 30th October 1918 that they held no records on William.

His death was later assumed, for official purposes, as having occurred on 30th March 1918. He would have just reached 25 years old.

The amount of the War Gratuity suggests that William served for over three years, enlisting in 1914.

His father received William’s Army effects and a War Gratuity of £18-10s. The pension card shows the name of Miss D. N. Fletcher, 90 Mytton Street, Hulme, Manchester, but gives no details.

His mother appears to have died in February 1917, aged 57, and his father in 1929, aged 69.

Sadly, William had not been found on any memorials.

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

Killed On This Day.

(108 Years this day)
Sunday 16th June 1918.
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