Name
William Barker I’Anson
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
07/10/1916
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lance Corporal
18850
Royal Fusiliers *1
9th (County of London) Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
THIEPVAL MEMORIAL
Pier & Face 8C, 9A & 16A
France
Headstone Inscription
NA
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Town Memorial, St Mary's Church Roll of Honour, Hitchin, No on the Great Offley Village memorials, Ammanford War Memorial, Carmarthenshire, Wales, GWR War Memorial, Railway Station, Chester, Cheshire, Great Western Railway Roll Of Honour WW1 Exeter
Pre War
When trying to update William’s Biography in 2025 no new records have been found using Ancestry or FindMyPast. Some information was found that corroborates the earlier work done by David C Baines, which is predominately what appears here.
William Barker I’Anson as the son of Albert and Eliza Jane I’Anson who was farm bailiff at Offley Holes Farm. No census information has yet been found.
William moved to Wales and worked for the Great Western Railway at Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, and worked as a checker in the Traffic Department, Ammanford.
We understand that information for him appears in the GWR Staff Magazine, dated January 1917 (p13) and April 1917 (p75), however we have not been able to access this. We believe the latter contains his photograph.
Officially William was recorded as living in Offley, nr Hitchin and enlisted in Bedford.
Wartime Service
He joined the 9th Battalion of the Regiment as Number 18850. The Battalion was part of the 36th Brigade in the 12th (Eastern) Division. Served overseas from 10 March 1916 and was killed in action in France.
On the 6th October 1916 the 9th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers was in reserve to the west of Gueudecourt on the Somme. On the 7th October the Battalion moved to the Gird Support Line and sustained heavy casualties during an attack on Bayonet Trench.
It had rained for days, the men were soaked with liquid mud for days on end and the sick rate was enormous. The 9th Battalion was on the extreme right of the attack They were faced with a network of trenches and strong points and did not reach their objectives. Their attack commenced at 1.45pm, but Bayonet Trench was not reached. Artillery and machine gun fire were so heavy that the front companies were mown down and the Battalion lost 15 officers and 250 other ranks. The Battalion received the following message from General Boyd Moss "Will you please thank all ranks in your Battalion for the magnificent gallantry they displayed yesterday. They advanced steadily under a heavy fire which only the best troops could have faced. Though Unfortunately, unsuccessful, their gallant conduct has added to the fine reputation which you have already won for yourselves".
He has no known grave and is remembered on Pier Faces 8C, 9A and 16A of the great
Thiepval Memorial to the Missing in France.
The Hertfordshire Express dated 28 April 1917 mentioned William (not by name) in a report about the wounding of his brother, Walter, confirms that their father worked at Offley Holes Far, Offley and that William, although unnamed, had died in October 1916. It quoted him saying "We are proud of them both and, I should hate to think that I was the father of a shirker".
Additional Information
William’s two pension cards give little information other than recording Eliza Jane l’Anson, as his dependant and living at The Bungalow, St Ippolyts, nr Hitchin.
William’s brother Walter served and survived the war, although he was twice wounded whilst serving in the Essex Regiment.
*1 Probably more correctly (County of London) Bn. London Regiment (Queen Victoria’s Rifles).
Acknowledgments
Adrian Pitts, David C Baines, Jonty Wild, https://fallenrailwaymen.omeka.net/, ww1.wales/carmarthenshire-memorials/ammanford-ww1-war-memorial/
