Name
William Charles Lawson
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
01/05/1915
19
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
14800
Bedfordshire Regiment
1st Bn.
‘B’ Coy.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL
Panel 31 and 33.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Town Memorial, St Mary's Church Roll of Honour (Book), Hitchin, British Boys' School Memorial, Hitchin
Pre War
His parents were James and Caroline Lawson of 28, Periwinkle Lane, Hitchin. He was born in Braintree but resided in Hitchin where he attended Hitchin British Boys' School.
William was living in Hitch when he enlisted. Before the war he was employed by Messrs P.H. Barker & Son in Hitchin and was a well-known Sunday School teacher at St. Mary's Church. Enlisted in September 1914.
Wartime Service
He was given the Regimental Number 14800 and served with ‘B’ Company in the 1st Battalion having volunteered in September 1914. He trained at Felixstowe and was considered to be one of the best shots in his Company. He was posted there in April 1915.
He was gassed at Hill 60 and died as a result. The 1st Battalion was part of the 15th Brigade in the 5th Division of II Corps in the 2nd Army. He saw action at Hill 60 where he suffered from being gassed from which he never recovered from. His death coincides with a German attack on Hill 60 with dense clouds of chlorine gas and shells commencing at 6.30pm on the 1st May 1915 although there was no follow-up attack by the infantry. Twenty-two men were admitted to hospital suffering from the effects of the gas and two died. It is thought that the Germans had used the gas shells earlier than they had intended, as their original plan was to precede the gas with mine explosions followed by an infantry attack.
He has no known grave and is remembered on the Menin Gate to the Missing at Ypres in Belgium.
Acknowledgments
Adrian Dunne, David C Baines, Jonty Wild
