William Turner (1891-1916)
Willington man served with King's Own Border Regiment
From a member of the family:
William Turner was born in 1891 in Willington, the eighth child of Michael and Annie Turner. In 1896 his father was killed in the explosion at Brancepeth Colliery and his mother was left with 11 children to bring up on her own.
In 1910 William enlisted with the 2nd Battalion King’s Own Scottish Borderers (KOSB) at Berwick as Private 10658. In 1911 he was transferred to the 1st Battalion and went to Lucknow as part of the 8th Division of the Indian Army. In October 1914 his unit left Bombay for Cairo to be part of the reserve of the Suez Canal Defence Force and then transferred to Rugby from December until March 1915. His battalion sailed from Avonmouth on 18 March, via Malta, to Alexandria and then on to Murdos on the Greek Island of Lemnos, 50km from the Dardenelles. On 25 April the KOSB lead the way ashore at Y beach, an operation to draw the Turks away from the main landings further south. Although the landing met little resistance at first, later attacks by the Turkish 9th Division inflicted heavy casualties. William and the 29th Division were evacuated from Gallipoli in January 1916.
After a few weeks in Egypt and William’s promotion to corporal, the battalion was sent to the Western Front, arriving in Marseilles on 18 March 1916 and by the end of the month were to the rear of the Somme battlefront. On 1 July they were part of the southern flank of the attack on the German lines at Beaumont Hamel. 1st KOSB were pinned down by German machine-gun fire and suffered 548 casualties. Beaumont Hamel was not taken until 13 November 1916, but by then William had died of his wounds. He died on 23 October, aged 25. He is buried at Dartmoor Cemetery, Becordel-Becourt near Albert. He is commemorated on the war memorial in Willington and on the plaque in Saint Stephen’s Church.
Civil Parish: Willington
Birth date: 1891
Death date: 23-Oct-1916
Armed force/civilian: Army
Residence: 53 Railway Terrace, Willington (1901 census)
Family: Siblings: Mary A Turner, Emily M Turner, Thomas Turner, Michael Turner, George Turner, Annie Turner, Sarah Turner (1901 census)
Gender: Male
Contributed by JLP, Barnard Castle
