William Foster
Memorial: South Gloucestershire war dead not on a local memorial
Regiment: Gloucestershire Regiment
Medals: 1914–15 Star, British War Medal, Next of Kin Memorial Plaque 1914 - 1921, Silver War Badge, Victory Medal
Rank and number: Sergeant 200816
Parents: Sarah J and Albert Foster, stepfather William Heraud
Home address: Buckingham Villas, Downend, Bristol
Date of birth: 1897
Place of birth: St. George, Bristol
Date of death: 09/10/1917
Buried/Commemorated at: No known burial site. Commemorated at the Tyne Cot Memorial, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium. Not commemorated on a local memorial
Age: 20
Further information:
William was born in St. George, Bristol the son of a roofer/tiler and the eldest of two boys with a younger brother Alec. William's father died in 1903 when William was just 6 years old and by 1911 his mother had remarried and the family were living in Kingswood.
William's battalion (the 1st/4th, Glosters) mobilised for war in March 1915 and landed at Boulogne where the formation became the 144th Brigade of the 48th Division and engaged in various actions on the Western Front including the Battle of Albert, the Battle of the Ancre and the pursuit of the German Retreat to the Hindenburg Line. William was killed during the Battle of Poelcapelle (9 October 1917) one of the Battles of Passchendaele, the result of which was inconclusive at a cost of 12,500 casualties. He was initially reported as wounded and missing which was subsequently changed to presumed killed in action. William's body was never found and the Tyne Cot Memorial where he is remembered, is one of four memorials to the missing in an area of Flanders known as the Ypres Salient, which stretched from Langemarck in the north to the northern edge in Ploegsteert Wood in the south.
By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):
This information has been provided by Sarah Hands, Volunteer Researcher for the South Gloucestershire War Memorials Web Site.
By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):
https://www.cwgc.org/
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/
https://www.findmypast.co.uk/
https://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/