Lance Corporal 20804 William Cotterill

BMD details:
Marriage: 03/06/1911 William Cotterill to Elizabeth Waterworth at Eccleston St Thomas. The couple had two children: Edward Austin b- 27/12/1913 and Elizabeth b- 28/06/1916.

Family details:
Widow Elizabeth is legatee

Census details:
1901 - Shows 8 years old William living at 46 South John Street, Parr, St Helens with his parents Thomas (36), Mary (37) and five siblings: James (15), Thomas (6), Peter (4), Margaret (2), John (1). 1911 - Sees 19 years old 'Coal Miner - Haulage' William living at 71 Langtree Street, Parr, St Helens with his parents Thomas (47), Mary (49) and nine siblings: James (25), Thomas (18), Peter (16), Margaret (14), John (12), Florence (10), Frederick (7), Richard (5), Edward Austin (6mths).

Notes:
Age taken from census.

The 11th (Service) Battalion of the South Lancashire Regiment was formed in September 1914 from the third contingent of volunteers called for by Lord Kitchener. Initial training took place on Salisbury Plain and in early 1915, the Battalion became a 'Pioneer' Battalion with the 30th Division. It had been decided that each of the New Army divisions should have an extra battalion included in its establishment to carry out road-making and other semi-technical work frequently called for in the field. The 11th Battalion was known as the 'St Helens Pioneers' in honour of the fact that the majority of the men came from St Helens. The Battalion finally left for France in November 1915, disembarking at Le Havre on the 7th. The Battalion strength was 30 officers and 1,007 other ranks. They served for the remainder of 1915 in the Somme Valley, carrying out work in the trenches. They suffered a few casualties, mainly to German snipers, but otherwise their first few weeks in the field proved uneventful. In the Spring and early Summer of 1916, the Battalion were heavily involved in preparations for the forthcoming Somme offensive. As a Pioneer Battalion, this was an exceptionally busy time. On 1st July, at the commencement of the Battle of the Somme, 30th Division were tasked with the capture of Montauban, with the initial assault taking place at 7.30 a.m. This was done by 2.45 p.m. and the Battalion were hard at work creating communications trenches forward through to the German front line. Three of the planned 4 trenches were completed by the fourth was abandoned due to extremely heavy German shelling, which inflicted heavy casualties. In addition, large numbers of men were hit by German machine gun fire as they went over the top in support of the assaulting infantry. It is not clear at which point Lance Corporal Cotterill was killed. His body was never identified after the battle and his name is recorded on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme. [pic]imgs/WW1_misc/20804WilliamCotterill.jpg[/pic][caption]Army Registers of Soldiers' Effects, 1901-1929[/caption] [pic]tpics/Cotterill_Pals.jpg[/pic][caption](c) St Helens Reporter.[/caption] [pic]imgs/S1PWHYAOTV/Thiepval_SLR_Prvt_NCOs.jpg[/pic][caption]The panel on the Thiepval Memorial bearing the inscription for Lance Corporal William Cotterill (Photo courtesy of Ste M.)[/caption]