Private William Kay

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Private William Kay

Seaforth Highlanders Labour Company transferred to 13th Company Labour Corps
Service No: 18974 / 7394

1270

1

4

0

16

Click here for a frameable A4 print

Personal details

Family Information

Nephew of David and Mary Kay of 45 South Main St, Coatbridge. Grandson of Andrew Kay of Manse View, Coatbridge. From the 1891 Census - Address - 9 Hutton St, Coatbridge - David Kay aged 26, Mary Kay aged 26, William Bean Kay aged 2, visitor Janie Speirs aged 12. From the 1901 Census - Address - 67 South Bridge St, Coatbridge - David Kay aged 36, Mary Kay aged 36, William Kay aged 12, boarders William Skelly aged 34, Jane Skelly aged 2. William's Pension was left to his Aunt Mary of 45 South Main St, Coatbridge on the 10/09/1918.

Born / Resided

Holytown / 45 South Main St, Coatbridge.

Died

Killed in Action on the 09/01/1918 after enemy aeroplane bombed ammunition truck near Ypres

Enlisted

Hamilton

Employed

Rosehall Colliery.

Age

29 Buried / Remembered

Duhallow A.D.S. Cemetery (II. F. 27), West-Vlaanderen, Belgium.

Cemetery / Memorial Information

Duhallow Advanced Dressing Station, believed to have been named after a southern Irish hunt, was a medical post 1.6 kilometres north of Ypres (now Ieper). The Cemetery was begun in July 1917, on the day of the Battle of Pilckem Ridge, and Plots I and IV were completed by November 1918. The graves of October and November 1918, are due to deaths in the 11th, 36th and 44th Casualty Clearing Stations. Of the 875 burials in the original Plots, 215 are those of Artillery officers and men and 77 those of Engineers. After the Armistice, 633 bodies (of which 228 were not identified) were brought into this Cemetery from isolated graves and small Cemeteries on the battlefields North, East, and South of Ypres. There are 1,544 Commonwealth casualties of the First World War buried or commemorated in this cemetery, 231 of the burials unidentified. There are also 57 war graves of other nationalities, mostly German, and one Commonwealth burial of the Second World War, which dates from the Allied withdrawal ahead of the German advance of May 1940.

Additional Information

William is listed as 3rd BATTALION HIGHLAND LIGHT INFANTRY on the Coatbridge Memorial. William was formerly with the Highland Light Infantry (32556). He joined the Seaforth Highlanders Labour Company (18974) before being transferred to the 13th Company Labour Corps (7394). William and 40 other men from the 13th Company were Killed in Action on the morning of the 9th of January 1918 when a German aircraft flying behind the British lines, dropped a bomb that landed on an ammunition truck, causing a massive explosion in the vicinity where all the men were working. The 13th Labour Company was engaged in salvaging ammunition when they came under air attack. The blast was so severe and destructive it resulted in the death of 41 men from the 13th Company Labour Corps. All of these men are buried in a mass grave in Duhallow A. D. S. (Advanced Dressing Station) Cemetery, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium, in Plot II. Row F. Graves 1 to 41. A further 15 men from the Army Ordnance Corps, Royal Engineer Field Companies, Royal Field Artillery and II Corps HQ were also killed in the blast that morning. 10 of them are buried in Plot III. Row E. Graves 10 - 13, 15 - 19 and Plot III Row F. Grave 1. The other 5 of those men are commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial for the Missing on Panel 160, their bodies were never recovered. William's headstone does not mention he was a member of the Labour Corps. In 1919 it was decided that the headstone of a member of the Labour Corps, who previously served in any other unit, should record his connection with his previous Regiment. See photos for William's Medal Index Card, his Army Register of Soldiers Effects, his Service Medal and Award Rolls, his CWGC Grave Registration, the CWGC Grave Registration for the first 12 men of the 13th Company who fell, the CWGC Grave Registration for William and 28 other men of the 13th Company who fell, the Headstone Report listing the first 12 men of the 13th Company who fell, the Headstone Report listing the 20 men (including William) of the 13th Company who fell, the Headstone Report listing the 9 men of the 13th Company who fell, William's Pension Records x 3, another photo of William's headstone, Duhallow A.D.S. Cemetery, The 41 men buried in Duhallow A.D.S. Cemetery, men of the 13th Company in Duhallow A.D.S. Cemetery, his former Regiment the Highland Light Infantry Cap Badge, the Seaforth Highlanders Cap Badge, the Labour Corps Cap Badge and Newspaper clippings x 3 (Coatbridge Express x 1 and the Coatbridge Leader x 1).

Photos

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