No.31855, Private, William WRIGHT
Aged 27
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William Wright was born in Stow cum Quy in 1889 (Chesterton Q4-1889 3B:462), son of Charles and Adelaide WRIGHT (née EADEN).
1891 census...Aged 1, he was at Stow End, Stow cum Quy with his father Charles WRIGHT [38] general labourer; his mother Adelaide [33]; brothers Arthur [13]farm labourer, Charles [9]and Albert [6]; sister Florence M[4]. All were born in Stow cum Quy. 1901 census...Aged 11, he was at High Street, Stow cum Quy with his parents (father now horsekeeper on farm); brothers Charles (carter on farm), Albert (shepherd) and Walter [7] (born Stow cum Quy); sister Florence. 1911 census...Aged 21, farm labourer,, he was at Stow End with his parents; sister Florence May (laundress); brother Walter (groom on farm). In 1916 he married Esther Margaret NOBLE on 12th August (Chesterton Q3-1916 3B:1017). |
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He enlisted in Cambridge.
From "History of the Suffolk Regiment" by Lt Col CCR Murphy we learn that; April 28th 1917, at 4:27 am the 11th Suffolks forming the left battalion of the 101st Brigade, attacked the chemical works north of Roeux and immediately south of the railway . It was soon held up, and then driven back by intense machine gun fire from a trench which appeared to have been missed by our barrage, but a few men actually got through and into a quarry to the east of the works, coming back in the evening with 2 or 3 prisoners. At 9:45 am the enemy counter attacked from the direction of Roeux, capturing Mount Pleasant Wood and part of Ceylon communications trench. Major Tuck then went up into the line again and found the battalion front intact, Ceylon trench once more in our hands and the enemy in the process of being driven out of Mount Pleasant wood. At 10 that night the battalion was withdrawn from the front to the support line trenches for two hours to enable our artillery to bombard the chemical works, which were attacked - but again unsuccessfully - by a fresh unit afterwards. The 11th Suffolks suffered 107 killed, 82 having no identified grave.
photo: Commonwealth War Graves Commission click here to go to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website for full cemetery/memorial details |
