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William  Fairfull cap badgePrivate William Fairfull

10/11th (Service) Battalion Highland Light Infantry
Service No: 39624

William  Fairfull grave

1382

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34
Personal details

Family Information

Son of Thomas (1856 - 04/02/1933) and Janet Ramsay Fairfull (1852 - 08/08/1893). Thomas remarried Mary Smith who died on the 18/04/1924). Husband of Mary Henderson Fairfull of 99 Deedes St, Coatbridge. From the 1891 Census - Address - 11 Underwoods Work House, Falkirk - Thomas Fairfull aged 35, Janet Fairfull aged 40, William Fairfull aged 8, Janet Fairfull aged 6, Thomas Fairfull aged 3 and Margaret Fairfull aged 1 died 12/06/1968. William also had a stepbrother John Smith Fairfull who died on the 24/09/1896 aged 1. William's Pension was awarded to his wife Mary who remarried and became Mary Henderson Fletcher.

Born / Resided

Coatbridge / 99 Deedes St, Coatbridge.

Died

Killed in Action on the 09/04/1918 at the Battle of Estaires (opening phase of the Battles of the Lys)

Enlisted

Coatbridge

Employed

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Age

35

Buried / Remembered

Ploegsteert Memorial (Panel 9), Hainaut, Belgium.

Cemetery / Memorial Information

The PLOEGSTEERT MEMORIAL commemorates more than 11,000 servicemen of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in this sector during the First World War and have no known grave. The memorial serves the area from the line Caestre-Dranoutre-Warneton to the north, to Haverskerque-Estaires-Fournes to the south, including the towns of Hazebrouck, Merville, Bailleul and Armentieres, the Forest of Nieppe, and Ploegsteert Wood. Most of those commemorated by the memorial did not die in major offensives, such as those which took place around Ypres to the north, or Loos to the south. Most were killed in the course of the day-to-day trench warfare which characterised this part of the line, or in small scale set engagements, usually carried out in support of the major attacks taking place elsewhere.

Additional Information

The 10th and 11th Battalions arrived at Boulogne on the 12/05/1915. On the 14/05/1916 the Battalions transferred to 46th Brigade in 15th (Scottish) Division and amalgamated to form the 10/11th Battalion. The Battalion were part of the 120th Brigade, 40th Division when William fell at he Battle of Estaires on the 09/04/1918. This was the opening phase of the the Battles of the Lys from the 9th April – 29th April 1918 : The third German offensive Operation Georgette takes place in Flanders with the objective of capturing key railway and supply roads and cutting off British Second Army at Ypres. After initial successes the German attack is once again held after British and French reserves are somehow found and deployed. SEE PHOTOS x 18 FOR THE BATTALION WAR DIARY MARCH 1918. This includes the Battle of St Quentin 21st - 23rd March 1918 when the Highland Light Infantry was part of a allied defensive formation attacked by vastly superior numbers of German storm-troopers. ALSO SEE PHOTOS x 10 FOR THE BATTALION WAR DIARY APRIL 1918. The Battalion War Diary states casualties during the Battle of Estaires, 9th to 11th April 1918 were - 14 Officers and 410 Other Ranks. William is listed as 15TH BATTALION on the Memorial. He is also listed as FAIRFIELD on his Medal Index Card and Service Medal and Award Rolls. William is also remembered on the St Andrew's Parish Church, Baillieston and United Collieries Rolls of Honour and the Family Plot in Old Monkland Cemetery (see photos). See photos for William's Medal Index Card, his Army Register of Soldiers Effects, his Service Medal and Award Rolls, his name on the Ploegsteert Memorial x 2, his CWGC Grave Registration, his name on the Ploegsteert Memorial Panel List, William's Pension Record, the Highland Light Infantry Cap Badge and a map of the German break-in on the 9th April 1918. German forces cross the Lys at Bac St Maur and the Lawe near Pont-Riqueul. 55th (West Lancashire) Division fights a magnificent defence at Givenchy; 2nd Portuguese and British 40th Divisions are all but lost ; 34th Division holds northern flank at Armentieres.

Photos
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War Diaries

The battalion War Diary is available on the National Archives website.

Creative Commons License

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