Of the 628 Victoria Crosses awarded in WWI, only one went to a St Ivian. Chatteris claims even that single award. There is no recognition by St Ives of our only holder of the highest award for valour.
Born in Wellington Lane, St Ives, in 1889, Billy was the eldest of six children. His father, George, was born in Chatteris and worked as a printer's compositor in St Ives. George married Billy's mother, Rhoda May, a St Ivian, in 1888. By 1891, the family moved to Plumstead, London.
Billy spent most of his childhood with his grandparents in West Street, Chatteris. He was there in 1901. By 1911 Billy was head of his own household at age 21 years, living in Anchor Street, Chatteris (renamed Clare Street after Billy). He lived with his grandmother and 15 year old sister Dora, who look after her grandmother. There was also a boarder. Billy served with the Bedfordshire Yeomanry. Their D Squadron had a detachment based at Chatteris, where Billy served as a groom. At some point before 1914 he left military service.
War was declared on Tuesday 14 August 1914. Although a shock, there was tremendous enthusiasm to enroll. In eight weeks, 750,000 men from around the country joined up to go to war. When the call came, Billy was at the head of the queue, enrolling within a month at the Corn Exchange in Cambridge.
Billy joined the 5th Royal Irish Lancers. It's unclear when he travelled to France. The Lancers were part of the British Expeditionary Force. They were amongst the first to engage the Germans in August 1914. The Lancers fought in all the major battles, present on the Western Front throughout WWI. Although a cavalry regiment, the men of the Lancers took their place in the trenches. So it's probable Billy took part in several of the major campaigns.
What is certain is that Billy took part in the Battle of Cambrai in November 1917. The plan was to use surprise to break through the formidable Hindenburg Line. British forces secretly gathered at the point of attack. They aimed to punch through the German defenses with suppressing artillery fire, smoke and a creeping barrage. It was the first large-scale use of tanks in battle.
Starting on Tuesday, 20 November, the attack was an immense success. Church bells rang throughout Great Britain. The British Army advanced six miles, a huge gain. Bad weather at the end of November, coupled with inadequate reinforcements, halted further gains. On 28 November, the offensive stopped. The British troops laid wire and dug trenches in Bourlon Wood, attempting to hold on to the ground gained. German artillery concentrated on their positions. On that day, the enemy fired 16,000 shells into the wood.
Shrapnel shells had a killing range of up to 400 yards. Even a high velocity shell produced several thousand pieces of shrapnel when its casing fragmented. Shelling woodland multiplied the danger, splinters of wood being as deadly. Bourlon wood was a place of hell as night fell on Wednesday, 28 November.
During battle, Billy was a stretcher bearer, applying basic medical care. To some extent, stretcher bearers were the bravest men at the front. Combat soldiers kept their heads down to avoid bullets and shells. Stretcher bearers dashed into no-man's-land unarmed to recover the wounded. As a result, the casualty rate was high.
On the night of 28 November, Billy was working in the front line of Bourlon Wood, tending to the wounded. Billy ran to wherever the wounded needed his skills. As shells crashed around him, Billy stretchered the wounded 500 yards to a dressing station.
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| The devastation of Bourlon Wood after the Battle of Cambrai, 1917. |
At one point, the enemy put out of action a detached post. It was in open ground. Billy rushed 150 yards to the position to tend to the wounded. He then manned the post single-handed until they sent relief.
Next, Billy carried the most seriously wounded soldier on his back to the cover of a fallen tree. Returning with a stretcher and help, he carried the soldier to the dressing station. Whilst there, Billy learned the Germans were using gas shells in the valley below.
The direction of wind meant the soldiers in the front line were in danger. Billy visited every shell hole and trench. To travel quickly, he ran along the top of the defences, warning them of the danger of gas shells.
Early on the morning of Thursday 29 November 1917, a shell killed Billy, aged 28 years.
By early December, the Germans counterattacked. The British forces found themselves almost back where they had started. Over 10,000 British soldiers were dead, along with 49,000 wounded and 17,000 missing or prisoners of war.
At a court of inquiry held in early 1918, one officer commented, 'Cambrai was a highly speculative gamble ... it was haphazard, not thought through. A harum-scarum affair, ill-planned and feebly directed...'
Billy's last resting place is unknown. His name appears on the Cambrai Memorial to the Missing, and Chatteris War Memorial. St Peter and St Paul Church, Chatteris, has a stained glass window in memory of Billy.
King George V presented Billy's Victoria Cross to his father and mother at Buckingham Palace on Saturday 2 March 1918.
Do you have any additional information about Billy? If so, please get in touch via the Get in Touch page.
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