Name
William Leslie Jerram
1891
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
31/07/1917
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
269131
Hertfordshire Regiment
1st/1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
TRACK X CEMETERY
E. 32.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
DEEPLY LAMENTED FROM WIFE & BABY
UK & Other Memorials
Abbots Langley Village Memorial, St. Lawrence Church Memorial, Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire Regimental Memorial, All Saints Church, Hertford, Not on the Kings Langley Memorials
Biography
William Jerram was killed in action on 31st July 1917, the same day as Percy Coleman. Both were Abbots Langley men and both lived at Railway Terrace. William had lived in Railway Terrace all his life. He was born in Abbots Langley in July 1891 and was recorded living in Railway Terrace in the 1901 and 1911 Census. He lived with his parents, William and Alice Jerram, three sisters and two brothers. His father worked as a Flour Miller.
It is not known when William enlisted at Watford. He had married Beatrice Shaw in the spring of 1915 and was living at 12 Railway Terrace at the time. He was first recorded in the Abbots Langley Parish Magazine Roll of Honour in September 1916, at which point his name was listed, but his unit was not given. By January 1917 he was recorded serving with the Hertfordshire Regiment, and remained with the same battalion until his death was recorded in the Magazine in September 1917.
William was killed in action during the Battle of Pilkem Ridge, to the north of Ypres in Belgium. The 1st Herts moved to the reserve lines from Training Camps on 30th July 1917, and at 3.50am on the morning of 31st July they moved forward to attack the Langemarck Line near St Julien. Gradually the enemy resistance stiffened and the 1st Herts faced heavy machine gun and sniper fire, and when they reached the enemy lines they found that the barbed wire was practically undamaged, despite the preliminary shelling bombardment. The German machine gun fire and a counter attack caused heavy casualties. Of the 620 men who had moved forward at 3.50am, there were over 460 casualties.
In September 1917 the Abbots Langley Parish Magazine reported
“William Leslie Jerram, of the Herts Regiment, was killed in action on July 31st, when our glorious County Regiment suffered so many casualties at St Julien. He belonged to Railway Terrace, and leaves a young wife and a little child to mourn his loss.”
William Jerram was buried at Track “X” Cemetery near St Julien in Belgium, and was commemorated on the Abbots Langley War Memorial.
The value of his effects were £3-4s-1d, Pay Owing and £3, War Gratuity which went to his wife Beatrice.
Additional Information
His wife, Mrs, B. M. C. Collins, 12 Railway Terrace, Kings Langley, Herts., ordered his headstone inscription: “DEEPLY LAMENTED FROM WIFE & BABY”.
Acknowledgments
Stuart Osborne
Roger Yapp - www.backtothefront.org, Jonty Wild
