Person

Private William (Billy) Bonner of the 1st/5th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry (DLI), died at the Battle of Arras on 23 April 1917. It was his 21st birthday.

Billy was born on 23 April 1896, in Thornaby-on-Tees. His father, John, was a Stockton man and was working as a machine driller at the time. His mother, Catherine or Kate as she was often called, was born in Thornaby, as were all Billy’s seven brothers and sisters.

When war broke out, Billy was just 18 but nevertheless, he quickly enlisted in the DLI 1/5 Battalion, part of the York & Durham Brigade, Northumbrian Division. He arrived in France with them for the first time in 1915 and within days was fighting in the Second Battle of Ypres, before moving south to join the battle of the Somme in September 1916.

In the Spring of 1917, British troops attacked German defences near the city of Arras, in northern France. The attack started on 9 April with the territorial battalions, which included Billy’s 1/5th, in action in mid and late April, south of the village of Guenappe.

It was here, when Billy should have been celebrating his coming-of-age, that he met his death, killed in action.

His death is commemorated in Bay 8 of the Arras Memorial and in the Book of Remembrance in St Thomas Church on Stockton High Street.

Birth date: 23-Apr-1896

Death date: 23-Apr-1917

Armed force/civilian: Army

Residence: 49 Britannia Street, Thornaby (1911 census)

Employment: Labourer

Family: Parents: John William Bonner,Catherine (Kate) Bonner (nee Smith)
Siblings: Harry Bonner (b 1892), Gertrude Bonner (1893-1965), Mary Ellen Bonner (b 13-Nov-1897), Thomas Bonner (b 17-Oct-1899), Catherine Bonner (b 1900), Alice Bonner (b 1903), Maria Bonner (b 1905)

Military service:

Private
Regimental number 3656
Service record number 200488
1/5th Battalion, DLI

Memorial(s): Arras Memorial Bay 8
DLI Book of Remembrance, Durham Cathedral
Saint Thomas’s Church, High Street, Stockton, Book of Remembrance

Gender: Male

Contributed by Kelloe Visitor, Trimdon Station