William Leigh was born in Kidderminster, Worcestershire in 1886 to parents William (senior) and Jane.

The 1901 Census confirms that William’s father worked as a carpet weaver whilst his mother was kept busy running the family home at number 4 Hill Street, in the area of town once known as Mount Skipet (the birthplace of Kidderminster’s carpet industry).

At the time of the Census, William was the second oldest of four children; his ‘big sister’ being Alice (who was also a carpet weaver), his ‘little sister’ was Olive and his ‘little brother’ was Fred. At the time of this Census, William was fifteen years old and was working as a creeler in a carpet mill (a creeler was basically a trainee weaver, whose job it was to ensure that the yarn bobbins which fed into the carpet loom, were in good order).

On the 6th of July 1907, aged 21, William married Martha Elisabeth Lamsdale. Martha was from a family of carpet-workers too. She had eight siblings (two of whom sadly died at very young ages). Martha was a carpet passer, meaning that she worked in the ‘finishing shed’ at one of the local mills, ensuring that the carpets and rugs were of the appropriate quality prior to being dispatched.

Martha was some 13 years older than William when they were married (unusual in the early 1900s) and the 1911 Census shows them living at number 68 George Street. By this time, William was twenty-five years old so he’d served his time as a creeler and was now qualified as a weaver. He worked for Messrs. R Smith & Sons in their Park Lane mill.

The future was looking bright for William and Martha, but then war came…

Like most young men at the time, William would have been keen to do his bit. National pride and patriotic fervour was sweeping the country.

He’d attested in 1915 and was assigned to the 2nd Battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment; the heroes of Gheluvelt, who many suggested “had saved civilisation” following their heroic defeat of the Germans in October 1914, just four months before William landed in France.

When William caught up with his battalion, they were starting a rest period in Vielle Chapelle; having been in the line under the most awful conditions and having taken considerable casualties, he joined them as part of a draft of much needed reinforcements.

After a fortnight in reserve, the 5th Brigade (of which William’s 2nd Worcestershire was part) took over the flood-ravaged defences at Festubert, where they remained until the end of February, sharing responsibility for this part of the line, in rotation, with the 2nd Highland Light Infantry.

On January the 25th the Germans attacked the defences of Givenchy, on the right flank of the line held by William and his pals. Thankfully the attack didn’t extend into William’s position, although the enemy bombardment did cause him to keep his head down!

During this period in the line, there was constant sniping from both sides, but most of William’s time would have been spent maintaining the integrity of the defences, which were mainly constructed of sandbags and which regularly collapsed due to the incessant rain.

The British-held line wasn’t a continuous trench in this sector, so the requirement to climb out of one trench, sprint across open ground and dive into the next trench was a regular challenge that William would have faced frequently! 

Even though William’s sector was generally considered “quiet,” the utmost caution was still required at all times. In the month of William's arrival in France (February 1915) his battalion lost 1 officer and 1 other-rank killed and had 7 other ranks wounded; this during a “quiet” period in a “quiet” sector…

However, no major enemy attacks took place and gradually, the battalion grew in strength as successive drafts of new recruits arrived.

On February the 25th, William’s battalion was relieved and marched south to billets in the historic old town of Bethune. William enjoyed the comforts of Bethune for three days before his battalion was then ordered to march east, to trenches near Cuinchy, to relieve the 2nd Coldstream Guards.

Here at Cruinchy William had his first experience of the German ‘Minenwerfer’ a mortar shell that the enemy constantly lobbed into the British lines.

When out of the line William’s 2nd Worcestershire were billeted either in Annequin or back in Bethune.

The Givenchy Attack:

This attack was launched on March the 10th by the 6th Brigade along the northern bank of the La Bassée Canal.

William’s 2nd Worcestershire were deployed in the trenches on the southern bank of the canal, so didn’t go ‘over the top’ - however they supported those troops crossing open-ground by delivering raking bursts of covering fire; and then they stood-to-arms in the trenches awaiting orders to move forward, under a severe bombardment.

However, the attack of the 6th Brigade failed to break the enemy's defences and shortly after the start, the attacking troops withdrew and William’s Worcesters were stood-down…

Officers of the 2nd Worcestershire were relieved to find that the German’s bombardment had inflicted only “minimal casualties” on the battalion (one officer killed, one sergeant and four privates wounded).

At around midnight, William’s 2nd Battalion was relieved by their old mates, the 2nd Highland Light Infantry and so marched back, without further incident, to their billets in Bethune.

On and off, William served on the front-line between March the 22nd and March the 30th and then, from April the 7th to April the 15th. William’s time out of the line was spent in Essars, and Bethune.

Tunnel Warfare:

Whilst resting and training, the 2nd Worcestershire received three drafts of new recruits, totaling 130 other ranks and two new officers. William’s battalion then received orders from Brigade level, directing them back to the Cuinchy sector.

At this time, in that sector, tunnellers from both sides were highly active – digging tunnels under no-mans-land towards the opposing lines and depositing huge amounts of explosive in caverns that they’d excavated directly under the enemy trenches.

William’s battalion took over a section of the front line on the evening of the 3rd of May and next morning detected signs of a tunnel being dug from the German lines towards their own.

On confirming their suspicions with High Command, arrangements were made; William and his pals were withdrawn from the front-line trenches, and British artillery shelled the suspected area and in particular, the spot where it was thought the German tunnel started from.

As a result of that shelling, at dawn on the morning of May the 5th, a cache of explosives blew-up just in front of the Battalion line and within fifty yards of the front trench (where William would have been on guard).

A huge crater around fifteen feet deep and twenty yards across was all that was left. Engineers calculated that around 4,000 lbs. of German explosive must have been sitting under the British trenches.

The heavy shelling had prompted the Germans to detonate the cache of explosives prematurely, unaware as they were, that the Tommy’s had been pulled back from the British trench line. Many lives were saved and many of William’s pals lived to fight another day (although there was 1 other rank killed and 13 wounded).

In spite of heavy retaliatory German shell fire during the rest of the day, no attack followed, however, for the next day or two, there was a sharp interchange of rifle shots and bombs while both sides drove sapheads towards the new crater.

The Battle of Festubert:

On the evening of May the 14th 1915, William’s 2nd Worcestershire took over the trenches allotted to them for the planned attack on German-held Festubert.

Elaborate preparations were made and orders were issued that the assault, timed to commence at 23:30 hours, was to be made in absolute silence and at walking-pace until the German line was reached; then the hostile trenches were to be rushed and the defenders bayonetted.

Somewhat farcically (but with tragic results) the start of the attack became totally disjointed because accurate synchronisation of watches had not been correctly completed by the various attacking units.

The watches of the Worcestershire officers were still several minutes short of the 23:30 zero hour when suddenly, the Inniskilling companies on their right flank rose to their feet and with a chorus of wild Irish yells, charged forward through the darkness. They’d clearly not received the “total silence” instruction…

On hearing the noise of the charging Inniskilling’s, German observers immediately launched a volley of illuminating flares all along the German line, which initiated a storm of machine gun fire, raking no-mans-land.

Through that fire the Inniskilling companies charged forward, towards the German parapets.

Minutes later at 23:30, William and his pals rose from their trenches and plunged forward through the mud. Any element of surprise had been lost. What followed was carnage, with German flares turning night into day and dug-in German machine gunners raking the field across which the Worcesters and Inniskillings were advancing…

A number of the attackers actually reached and entered the German trenches and acts of unbelievable bravery followed. However, most of the attackers were either mown down or forced to take whatever cover they could find in shell holes or small folds in the ground.

William was one of the attackers who managed to find cover…

It quickly became apparent that the attack had failed; but it was impossible to report the situation, for the communication trenches were blocked with wounded and the telephone line to Brigade H.Q. had been cut.

The officer in charge (Colonel Lambton) decided that the attack must be abandoned and gave orders for the survivors to pull-back to their starting trenches. It was one thing to give such an order, but another to expect compliance from the soldiers in the thick of the fighting.

Almost without exception, the surviving officers and men who were still unwounded, refused to withdraw and remained in the open, tending their wounded comrades and searching for the lost, until the full light of dawn made further effort impossible. Once again, acts of unbelievable bravery had taken place.

As morning broke, the artillery of both sides opened a fierce bombardment, and the troops in the congested front line suffered severely.

Orders came that the survivors of the 2nd Worcestershire were to withdraw into reserve so William and his pals made their way back as best they could to billets behind the line.

When mustered, it was found that over 250 of all ranks had been lost. The casualties as reported were:

"2 officers and 24 other ranks killed, 3 officers and 95 other ranks wounded and 127 missing..."

It later transpired that nearly all of those initially reported as missing had been killed in front of the German trench line.

Throughout the rest of the day, William and his surviving 2nd Battalion mates lay in reserve, in drenching rain and under continuous shell-fire.

Unbelievably, on the morning of May the 17th, orders were issued that what was left of the 2nd Worcestershire should move forward to the reserve trenches and await orders to follow-up an attack that was to be made by the Glasgow Highlanders.

For over two hours that morning, from 08:00 till 10:30 hours, the reserve line occupied by William and his mates was pounded by the enemy's heavy howitzers. At several points the breastworks were blown in, and some twenty of the battalion were killed or wounded.

Two companies of the 2nd Worcestershire moved up to the front line at 10:30 hours when the Highlanders started their attack, but the Scots were halted by German fire and no progress was made, in spite of much hard fighting on the right of the Brigade front.

Throughout the day the German bombardment continued, causing heavy casualties in the crowded breastworks. Total casualties of the 2nd Worcestershire during that day (the 17th of May) were 91.

Finally, orders were received that William’s 5th Brigade was to be relieved by the Indian Corps.

They marched back to Le Touret where the tired troops eventually reached their allocated billets at dawn on May the 18th. On the following afternoon the Brigade moved westward into reserve to rest and refit.

In four days of hard fighting around Festubert, casualties taken by the five battalions which made up the 5th Brigade (William’s 2nd Worcestershire, the 2nd Inniskilling, the 2nd Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry, the 2nd Highland Light Infantry and the Glasgow Highlanders) totalled almost 2,000.

The battle of Festubert continued for yet another week, but William’s 2nd Battalion took no further part. Festubert was finally captured by British forces, resulting in a three-kilometre advance for Allied troops.

On May the 18th William and his chums marched to the Hinges area where they found billets at Les Harrisoires.

On the 19th they moved still further back to an area around Lillers. Here William and his 2nd Worcestershire pals settled into billets at Ecquedeoques, where they remained for ten days, resting and training.

1916 – Back on Familiar Ground: 

Having survived a testing ten months in France, including the hell of Festubert, William and his battalion went into trenches at Givenchy on New Year's Day 1916. Three days of shells and bombs cost the battalion several casualties (4 killed, 4 wounded – all of whom would have been well known to William) and a severe loss in the death of the Regimental Chaplain, the Rev. J. R. Stewart who was killed by a shell while officiating at a burial service close behind the line.

After three days in reserve at Annequin, William’s battalion then took over a line of trenches from the 1st Queen's. These trenches, and a number of bomb-damaged houses in close proximity, were held until the 14th of January. Battalion casualties for this period in the line were 1 killed and 7 wounded.

At the end of this stint, William and his pals were relieved and marched back to billets in Bethune, a town they knew well!

A more trying period was now at hand...

Leaving Bethune on Sunday January the 23rd William’s battalion relieved the 2nd Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders in the right hand section of the 33rd Division's line, the trenches facing Auchy.

William’s life in these muddy trenches was made extremely unpleasant by constant artillery bombardments and explosions form German tunnel mines. Indeed, on January the 28th, a heavy bombardment which followed the explosion of a small mine cost his battalion 4 killed and 20 wounded (again, all of these casualties would have been well known to William).

On the evening of February the 7th, the battalion was relieved and marched back to billets in Bethune. The fortnight in the Auchy sector had cost William’s battalion 8 killed and 45 wounded. It can only be imagined what effect the continual loss of comrades was having on William at this time.

After a short spell in billets at Annequin William’s battalion took over trenches back in their old stomping ground of Cuinchy. Two days into this stint, a German mine was exploded near the battalion’s front line and sharp bombing fights followed. Apart from a three days' rest in Annequin (February the 22nd to the 25th) William was in the Cuinchy trenches until February 28th.

Battalion casualties incurred during this period were 3 killed and 17 wounded. Fighting in this sector had died down; the Cuinchy trenches were not uncomfortable and the weather was improving. The Spring months of 1916 brought no event of note to William’s 2nd Worcestershire.

The battalion remained in the area around Bethune, holding trenches at one part or another of the front just south of the La Bassèe Canal. At other times, when temporarily out of the line the Battalion was billeted either in close support at Annequin or in reserve at Beuvry.

According to the Regimental History:

“No heavy fighting occurred during that period, nor were casualties heavy. In March the losses totalled 4 killed and 17 wounded, in April 2 killed… and 24 men wounded. The Bethune sector had indeed become by this time, a quiet sector of the front, the centre of interest had shifted further south.” 

Tragically however, one of the two Worcestershire Tommys killed in that “quiet” April, was thirty-year-old William Leigh; a married carpet weaver from Kidderminster...

In letters to his wife following William’s death, his comrades were keen to confirm what a fine soldier and good friend he was. Private Denning from Broad Street in Kidderminster wrote:

“He was always a good soldier, and did his duty nobly. He was liked by officers and comrades and his loss is felt very much.”

Another Kidderminster man, Lance Corporal L. Barker wrote:

“I was a bomber in the same company and always found him ready and willing to do his duty. Your husband will be a great loss to our platoon, and the chaps thought a lot of him. He was buried on the 10th by our Chaplain, just behind the firing line.”

A third comrade wrote:

“No doubt you will be surprised to receive a letter from an absolute stranger. I am writing to you with a very sad heart as I am sorry indeed to inform you that your husband (my chum) was killed last night at about 9.30 while he was on look-out. If it is of any comfort to you at all to know, Will was killed instantly, so he suffered no pain.”

“Cheer up, Mrs. Leigh, and try not to take it too much to heart. I know how much you were to each other, as poor Will and I have often had talks about home. We had been chums since first we met and I am sure I never had a better. Believe me, Mrs. Leigh, you have the heartfelt sympathy of his old pal, Walter Hill.” 

William’s widow Martha received her soldier's pension of 12s/6d a week until her death in 1920 (aged just 47).

At the time of the compilation of the CWGC Roll of Honour, William’s next of kin was given as his ‘little sister’ Olive.

Today. William rests in peace under a Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) headstone in the Cambrin Military Cemetery in the Pas de Calais region of France.

The personal inscription chosen by his wife Martha reads:

“TO MEMORY EVER DEAR”

Cambrin Military Cemetery contains 816 Commonwealth burials of the First World War.

Back in Blighty, William Leigh is commemorated on the Kidderminster War Memorial, which is situated to the front of St. Mary and All Saints Church.

Below the names of the fallen on this memorial, the following epitaph is inscribed:

“THESE DIED THE NOBLEST DEATH A MAN MAY DIE ~ FIGHTING FOR GOOD AND RIGHT AND LIBERTY ~ AND SUCH A DEATH IS IMMORTALITY”

Rest In Peace 14985, Private William Leigh, 2nd Worcestershire ~ your bravery will never be forgotten ~ your sacrifice will be remembered For Evermore.

Acknowledgements: This story could not have been told were it not for the wonderful team at the Kidderminster Museum of Carpet; most especially Geoff, Jill and Jean. Very many thanks to you all. www.museumofcarpet.org.uk

Also, for background information, the regimental history @ www.worcestershireregiment.com