400729 PRIVATE WILLIAM CHENEY
2ND BATTALION ESSEX REGIMENT
KILLED IN ACTION
28TH MARCH 1918
AGE 30 YEARS
THE ARRAS MEMORIAL
William was born at Carlton Colville near Lowestoft, on the 3rd January 1888, the son of Robert, an agricultural labourer, and Sarah (née Barber). On the 1901 census, William was listed as a stock feeder working on a farm, at the tender age of just thirteen years. On the 29th January 1911, he married Lydia Knights in their parish church of Saint Peters. At this time his trade was shown as that of a fisherman. Just a few months later, at the time of the 1911 census, it listed Lydia living alone in Oulton Street, Lowestoft. It is possible that William would have been at sea, as no sign of him on the census could be found. On the 6th June 1913, Lydia gave birth to a son, Gordon. What happened to the family after this is not known. On the 30th April 1918, the Halesworth Times newspaper reported in an article that Mrs Ellen Barnes, William’s elder sister who was living at Mill House in Rectory Street, Halesworth, had received a letter from an Army Chaplain, stating that her brother Private W Cheney of the 2nd Battalion Essex Regiment had been missing in action from the 28th March, when he had last been seen helping to break up a heavy German attack. In the article, it also related that William, prior to enlisting in the army, had been employed at the Halesworth Brewery in the Market Place.
What records remain of William’s military service show that on enlistment he was in fact living in Halesworth, and had nominated his sister Ellen as his next of kin, also to be the beneficiary of any outstanding monies on his death. Why his sister and not his wife is not known. It is possible that by this time the marriage had broken down and he, possibly without his wife, was now lodging with Ellen.
It appears that he was called to join the Army, after the introduction of conscription in early 1916, eventually being posted to join the Essex Regiment. The article in the Halesworth Times mentions that, after a year of training, he crossed to France in August 1917. William’s medal roll shows that although he had originally joined the 9th (Service) Battalion of his Regiment, that had been serving in France ever since May 1915. On the 16th February 1918, the 9th Essex, due to the huge losses in infantrymen, was disbanded, releasing their remaining soldiers to be posted to those battalions in most need of reinforcements. In Williams case he joined his Regiments 2nd Battalion.
After joining the 2nd Essex, William’s life at the front would have continued with long periods of boredom and excitement, both in and out of the trenches. This at the time was the lot of a front-line infantryman. That was until the 21st March 1918, this being the day that the Germans launched what they hoped would be their final roll of the dice, now known as the Spring Offensive or the Kaiser’s Battle. Their objective was to break through the Allied front lines and then drive west to capture the Channel Ports, thereby cutting off the army’s line of supplies, while at the same time they hoped to push through to take Paris, which they then hoped would cause the French to sue for peace. On the 28th March, the day of William’s death, the 2nd Essex were holding a section of line in front of the northern French town of Arras. At 3am their positions were heavily bombarded with the German artillery firing a large number of high explosive and gas shells. This continued until 7.20am when the German infantry assault began, initially breaking through the British Line in several places. It was during the confused fighting that William and some of his comrades were last witnessed fighting for their lives.
The rout continued until the 2nd Essex, combined with their neighbouring battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers, eventually brought the German advance to a halt in their sector by falling back and forming several strong points, which checked and then held up their attack. The 2nd Essex war diary for the 28th, records that their total losses for that one day of fighting amounted to some four hundred and twenty Officers and men, either killed, wounded or missing. It was later found, that the majority of those classified as missing were in fact fatal casualties. That was from a total of just over five hundred men from the battalion who had seen the sunrise that very morning. William was just one of these counted as missing, to be finally presumed to have been killed in action some days later. He would have been just one of those, whose bodies were never identified, with them now all being remembered on the Arras Memorial to the Missing (see below).
On the 22nd November 1918, his sister Ellen, being his sole benefactor, received a gratuity of £28.16.4d (£28.82p).
She would also have been able to claim his medal entitlement of the British War and Victory medal pair with his named Memorial Plaque and Scroll.
The location of these awards is unknown.
