Name
William Baines
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
01/08/1917
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
204361
East Surrey Regiment
12th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL
Panel 34.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Pirton Village War Memorial, St Mary’s Shrine, Pirton, Methodist Chapel Plaque, Pirton, Pirton School Memorial, Letchworth Town Memorial
Biography
William was the fourth child of Edwin and Annis Baines (sometimes listed as Baynes) who married on October 26th 1872. The 1911 census records that they had thirteen children, but one had died and that number seems to miss Herbert Charles Goldsmith, born to Annis before her marriage. The full list of children is given below(*1 and all were born in Pirton.
William attended the Pirton School and at fourteen was working on a local farm. By 1901 he had left the village, but by using the census, can be found lodging with Emma Smith and her two daughters Mary Rebecca and Jane, in Norton Street, Baldock. William was working as a domestic groom. The 1911 census identifies two William Baines of a similar age, one living in Pirton and the other in Union Road, Hitchin. From marriage records, which list the father, the latter is proved to be our man. William was working as a hotel cab driver and had been married to Mary for nine years. Mary was born in Baldock, so it seems likely that he married the daughter of Emma Smith with whom he had previously lodged. Her ages in the various censuses also fit.
By 1915 he was still working as a groom and living with his wife in 56 Shott Lane, Letchworth, Herts. The Parish Magazine of October 1915 records that William had enlisted, which is odd because his Attestation papers give the date he took the oath as December 12th 1915. He was thirty-nine and actually a shade over the upper age limit at the time.
He enlisted in the 5th Reserve Battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment and went to France on June 21st 1917. He was posted to the 7th Battalion and then transferred to the 12th Battalion of the East Surrey Regiment on July 13th. This may have been to bring the East Surrey Regiment up to strength, but both battalions saw considerable action while he was with them.
The 12th Battalion (Bermondsey) was a service battalion formed for the duration of the war and, as the title suggests, was formed at Bermondsey, East London, on May 14th 1915 by the Mayor and Borough. They landed at Le Havre on May 2nd 1916, but as explained William did not go to France until June 1917. The Battalion’s war diary provides information on the period up to William’s death.
July started with the Battalion on working parties. They moved to a location near Vierstraat, which lies about 4 ½ miles from Ypres. It may not have been on the front line, but they would have clearly heard the shelling and would have seen it at night. They continued on working party duty, before marching for 5 hours to La Roukloshille for training on the 6th. That night they witnessed an air raid on Bailleul. They rested until the 9th then training began and a few days later William joined them. Training continued on and off until the 23rd when they moved to a military location called Wood Camp and prepared to occupy the front line. The Battalion was now recorded as ‘at battle strength’. With 500 men they moved to the Ecluse Trench at 9:15am on the 24th, leaving the other men in camp. By then the bombardment of the enemy lines was well under way. Of course the German guns were retaliating, but only one other rank was wounded. This artillery duel continued and the Battalion received orders on the 29th that they would be moving to their advance position the next day in preparation for an attack. They managed to do this with the loss of only one man.
The initial target of their attack on July 31st was a stronghold at Hollebeke and this was taken along with sixty-four prisoners and only seven casualties were reported. Conditions were bad in this area, with a lot of heavy rain falling in the previous days, making all movement difficult. On August 1st the East Surreys moved to forward positions in front of Hollebeke. The war diary plays down the difficulty of these operations and does not record the casualties on the 1st, but it does record that their forward and back areas were continually and indiscriminately shelled. Their attack was part of the Third Battle of Ypres or the Battle of Passchendaele and was notorious for the mud and the terrible conditions in which it was fought. The soldiers called it the ‘Battle of Mud’ and, such were the conditions that some men died, drowning in the mud.
William’s death was recorded as August 1st and his body was never recovered. He, like 54,321 other men with no known grave, is remembered on the beautiful memorial at Menin Gate in Ypres, but to this number can be added another 35,000 names of men who shared a similar fate and who are remembered on the Tyne Cot memorial, just a few miles away.
The Menin Gate is special, not only because of its impressive and beautiful design, but because it is in Ypres, and spans the road leaving the town over which so many men marched to their deaths. It is very special because at 8:00pm on every single day of the year, a moving ceremony of remembrance takes place for the fallen; such is the gratitude of the Belgian people for what our soldiers did for them. This has happened almost every night since November 11th 1929; only the German occupation between May 1940 and September 1944 prevented it.
Such is the significance of events in this area of Belgium to British history that anyone with a serious interest in our history, and especially the history of the Great War, must visit at least once. The British Army defended Ypres, and the path to the coast, and was prepared to pay almost any price. In the immediate area surrounding the town over 1,700,000 soldiers on both sides were killed or wounded. Ypres was all but destroyed, and in 1919 Winston Churchill said “I should like to acquire the whole of the ruin of Ypres . . . a more sacred place for the British race does not exist in the world.” That was not to be; instead it was rebuilt as it was, maintaining its original character and heritage.
William is remembered on this fine memorial. His wife’s legacy was a few possessions, a pension of 13 shillings and 9 pence a week, his war and victory medals, a memorial scroll and a brass plaque, commonly known as a Death Penny.
(*1) Herbert Charles (Goldsmith, bapt 1871), Clara Baynes (bapt 1873), Ruth (bapt 1874), Martha (bapt 1876), William (bapt 1877), George (bapt 1879), Ellen (bapt 1879), Elizabeth (b 1880), Kate (b 1882), Alice (bapt 1884), Emily (b 1887), Anne (b 1889), Ida (bapt 1891) and Violet Anne (b 1898).
Additional Information
See additional information page: Text from the book: The Pride of Pirton
Acknowledgments
The Pride of Pirton book – www.pirton.org.uk/prideofpirton Chris Ryan / Tony French / Jonty Wild
