Name
William Benjamin Brewerton
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
10/04/1918
19
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
27737
Wiltshire Regiment
6th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
TYNE COT MEMORIAL
Panel 119 to 120.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Standon War Memorial, St Mary’s Church Memorial, Standon, Puckeridge Memorial Plaque, Standon Village Hall, Standon
Pre War
William Benjamin Brewerton was born in 1899 at Hammersmith. He was living there in 1911 with his father, who was an Assistant Head Postman and mother Bessie (nee Dove) plus four siblings, before residing in Standon.
The family moved to Standon to take over the Nag’s Head pub when William’s father Benjamin retired from the Post Office after 30 years service, but within barely three weeks, Benjamin died on 21 December 1917 leaving his wife and by then, seven children, the youngest being 15 months old.
Wartime Service
Formerly No. 374977 London Regiment. William Brewerton was a Private, No. 27737 in the 6th Battalion of the Wiltshire Regiment (Duke of Edinburgh’s). He was formerly No. 374977 London Regiment.
He was killed in action on 10 April 1918 aged 19 years and his body was never found and he is commemorated on Panel 119 to 120 at the Tyne Cot Memorial in Belgium.
Mrs Nancy Lankester, a relative of the Brewerton family, was able to provide access to some photographs, letters from William (Billy) to his sister Bessie and correspondence from the Red Cross about the action in which William died. The following is part of that Red Cross information:
“Our reports show that in April 1918 the 6th Wilts had been moved up from the Somme battlefield, where they had suffered severely during the great retreat in March, and were in reserve trenches at Wytschaete Ridge near Messines, some distance to the south of Ypres. On April 9, the Germans made an attack in great force at Armentieres and succeeded in overwhelming the front lines and in over-running the country between that town and Bethune. On April 10 they worked their way northwards, in spite of the resistance of the division holding the Messines and Wytschaete Ridges of which the 6th Wilts formed part, and made a dangerous movement towards Hazebrouck, an important junction. Heavy fighting took place between April 10 and 13, every yard of the ground being contested, but the German advance continued and they received constant reinforcements, whereas our troops were subjected to an almost intolerable strain. Two thirds of them had been through the Somme battle, and were hardly reorganized when they were called upon to endure this fresh trial………………..In the enforced withdrawal many men must have lost their lives unseen by the retreating comrades.”
When her son William was killed, Mrs Brewerton had lost both her husband and eldest son within the space of four months.
Additional Information
William's mother remarried in 1920 and became Mrs Pateman. Both of William’s parents are buried in Standon churchyard. Billy’s father, Benjamin had served as a Sergeant in the Army Post Office Corps in the South African war and had 5 clasps (for different actions) on his South Africa War Medal. Two of William’s siblings subsequently married into families who are still local today. Alfred Brewerton married Grace Glasscock in 1933 and Bessie Hannah Brewerton married Ernest Worby in 1922.
Acknowledgments
Di Vanderson, Jonty Wild, Nancy Lankester
