Corporal William Howard Gemmell

Corporal William Howard Gemmell

10th Battalion Canadian Infantry (Alberta Regiment), "89th" Battery, "C" Company
Service No: 183084

969

2

4

0

62

Click here for a frameable A4 print

Personal details

Family Information

Son of Stephen Howard Gemmell (the late Town Chamberlain) (02/07/1856 - 25/05/1911) and Jean S Gemmell (26/04/1862 - 1944). William's older brother Private John Gardner Gemmell also fought. He was with the 218th (Edmonton) Battalion C.E.F. He survived the War. William also had 4 sisters who he visited whilst on leave. From the 1891 Census - Address - Burnbank Cottage, Coatbridge - Stephen H Gemmell aged 35, Jeannie Gemmell aged 29, Ellen J G Gemmell aged 8, Agnes H Gemmell aged 6, Jane S F Gemmell aged 3, Robert H G Gemmell aged 1. From 1901 Census - Address - 26 Weir St, Coatbridge - Stephen H Gemmell aged 44, Jane Gemmell aged 39, Helen Jeffrey Gemmell aged 18, Agnes Howard Gemmell aged 16, Jane G Gemmell aged 13, Robert Howard Gardner Gemmell aged 11, John Gardner Gemmell aged 8, William H F G Gemmell aged 5, Margaret Hogg F Gemmell aged 1.

Born / Resided

Coatbridge / 11248, 126th St, Edmonton, Alberta with his mother Jean Gemmell.

Died

Died of gunshot wounds to the abdomen on the 30/09/1918 at the 14th General Hospital, Wimereux

Enlisted

89th Battalion Calgary, Alberta, Canada 03/11/1915

Employed

Cashier and Paymaster / Before Emigrating - William Bain and Company, Lochrin Iron Works.

Age

23 / DOB - 22/05/1895

Buried / Remembered

Terlincthun British Cemetery (IV. D. 20), Wimille, France

Cemetery / Memorial Information

The first rest camps for Commonwealth forces were established near Terlincthun in August 1914 and during the whole of the First World War, Boulogne and Wimereux housed numerous hospitals and other medical establishments. The cemetery at Terlincthun was begun in June 1918 when the space available for service burials in the civil cemeteries of Boulogne and Wimereux was exhausted. It was used chiefly for burials from the base hospitals, but Plot IV Row C contains the graves of 46 RAF personnel killed at Marquise in September 1918 in a bombing raid by German aircraft. In July 1920, the cemetery contained more than 3,300 burials, but for many years Terlincthun remained an 'open' cemetery and graves continued to be brought into it from isolated sites and other burials grounds throughout France where maintenance could not be assured. During the Second World War, there was heavy fighting in the area in 1940. Wimille was devastated when, from 22 - 25 May, the garrison at Boulogne fought a spirited delaying action covering the withdrawal to Dunkirk. There was some fighting in Wimille again in 1944. The cemetery suffered considerable damage both from the shelling in 1940 and during the German occupation. The cemetery now contains 4,378 Commonwealth burials of the First World War and more than 200 war graves of other nationalities, most of them German. Second World War burials number 149.

Additional Information

William and the Battalion left Halifax, Nova Scotia on the 02/06/1916 aboard H.M.T. (Hired Military Transport) "Olympic" 2810. They arrived at Liverpool on the 08/06/1916. William was appointed Acting Corporal on the 08/06/1916. He arrived in France on the 03/03/1918. He joined the 10th Battalion on the 06/04/1918. They were part of the 2nd Canadian Brigade, 1st Canadian Division. The Canadians were spared the brunt of the German spring offensives of 1918, and participated in the Allied offensives of the autumn. The offensive Allied campaign under the command of Marshall Foch of the French Army cleared the Germans from positions near the important rail centre of Amiens. Consisting of a series of battles fought from August to September of 1918, it signalled the beginning of the end of the war on the Western Front. The 10th’s battle honour for Scarpe recognized a defensive operation which found the 10th Battalion once again in the Somme sector in a successful defence of the Fampoux area on the Anzain - Arras Road, beside the Scarpe River, between the 27th April and the 4th May 1918. The Drocourt - Quéant (or D-Q) Line was but a part of the famous Hindenberg Line, a large series of German fortifications and defensive positions. During the Amiens campaign above, the 10th Battalion was part of a successful advance along the Arras-Cambrai road towards Viller - lez - Cagnicourt. Acting Sergeant Arthur Knight was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for his exemplary courage during this action. The Hindenburg Line was the last line of defence for the German Army in the Amiens campaign, broken when Cambrai fell on the 9th October 1918, and the beginning of a German retreat that did not end until the Armistice on 11 November. Canal du Nord was the last major operation of the 10th Battalion, during the Battle of Cambrai. The Fighting 10th mounted a crossing of this obstacle on the 27th - 28th September 1918, suffering heavy losses. The Division were not directly involved in fighting against the German offensives of spring 1918. They took part in the following : The Battle of Amiens (8th - 11th August), the actions around Damery (15th – 17th August), The Second Battles of Arras 1918 - The Battle of the Scarpe (26th – 30th August), the Battle of Drocourt - Queant (2nd – 3rd September), The Battles of the Hindenburg Line - The Battle of the Canal du Nord (27th September – 1st October), The Battle of Cambrai (8th – 9th October). William Died of gunshot wounds to his abdomen received on the 29/09/1918 as the German Army was in retreat less than 6 weeks before the Armistice. SEE PHOTOS x 31 FOR THE BATTALION WAR DIARY SEPTEMBER 1918. For William's brother John's Service Records please contact me. See photos for H.M.T. "Olympic", men of the Battalion pass Stonehenge, William's CWGC Grave Registration x 2, his Headstone Report x 2, his name in the Canadian Book of Remembrance, Terlincthun British Cemetery, his Service Record x 28 and the Canadian Expeditionary Force Cap Badge. William's grave inscription reads "HE DIED IF IT WAS DEATH TO GIVE HIS YOUNG LIFE THAT WE MIGHT LIVE".

Photos

William Howard Gemmell newspaper clipping

William Howard Gemmell remembered at home

War Diaries

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

Creative Commons License

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