William Edward Foster was killed in action on this day in 1916
William Foster was born at Barkisland, near Halifax, Yorkshire in 1890.
At the 1891 Census William, aged 1, William was living at his grandmother's house in Stansfield, Todmorden with his mother (Eve) and siblings Elizabeth and Sarah.
By the 1901 Census, his sister had married and the 10 year old William was living with her and his brother in law at 23 Ribblesdale Street, Burnley.
In February 1908, having turned 17, William enlisted in his local Territorial artillery battery. At the 1911 Census, William was living with his sister and brother-in-law Ernest Haken as a lodger at 125 Abel St, Burnley.
At the outbreak of war William was employed as a coal miner in Burnley and he soon volunteered, joining the Manchester Regiment in Nelson, Lancashire. He served with the 12th Battalion on the Western Front from 16 July 1915.
Serving in the southern Ypres Salient, William took part in the fighting on The Bluff during the early spring of 1916 before moving to the Somme where, on 1 July, his battalion was kept in reserve.
In the vicinity of the ‘Quadrangle’' support trench near Mametz on 7 July 1916, William was killed in action during the second attack and his remains never identified.
His name is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.
4675 Pte. William Edward Foster, 12th Bn Manchester Regiment