Name
William Burrell
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
29/04/1917
25
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
4/6836
Bedfordshire Regiment
4th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star (with Clasp & Roses), British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
ARRAS MEMORIAL
Bay 5
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Sawbridgeworth Town Memorial, Great St Mary’s Church Memorial, Sawbridgeworth, St Mary’s Church Memorial, Ware, Ware Town Memorial, Not on the Hertford memorials, We are not aware of any memorial in Spellbrook
Pre War
William was born in 1891 in at Beldams Lane, Great Hallingbury, Essex. He was the son of Benjamin and Mary Ann Burrell (nee Pomfret) and was one of 9 children. The census information reveals that in 1891 he was aged 2 months and living with his parents, brother and 2 sisters, at Beldams Lane, Great Hallingbury, Essex.
By 1901 the family had moved to Spellbrook Lane, Sawbridgeworth, Herts. and in 1911 the census records William, then aged 20, living with his parents, brother and four sisters in Spellbrook Nr. Bishop's Stortford, Herts., which is in the Parish of Sawbridgeworth. His occupation listed as a farm labourer, but was currently out of work.
William married Annie Peternoster on the 14th February (one source suggest April) 1914, in the Parish of Sawbridgeworth.
Wartime Service
William Burrell was a Territorial soldier and upon the outbreak of the Great War, would have been called for home service. He served with the 4th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment and they were moved to Felixstowe to provide home defence around Harwich. Terrotorials could not be forced to serve overseas although many volunteered. William's position in this regard is not yet clear.
Following a period in England, the Battalion arrived in Le Havre, France on 25 August 1916 on the troopship SS Inventor, and the Battalion’s first action was November that year.
On 29 April 1917, the Battalion launched a dawn attack as part of the ‘Arleux Phase’ of the first day of the Battle of Arras. The regimental diary notes that the Battalion suffered heavy German shelling at this time. It was here that William Burrell was killed. He was aged 26.
William Burrell is also named on the Arras Memorial at Faubourg-D-Amiens Cemetery.
Additional Information
According to the CWGC records after his death his wife was listed as Annie Wren (formerly Burrell), of 331 Oakers Buildings, St. Andrew's St., Hertford. So she re-married.
Acknowledgments
Paul Johnson, Stuart Osborne, Malcolm Lennox, Jonty Wild, Douglas Coe
