Private William Townsley

Private William Townsley, 16th Battalion ( 2nd Glasgow ), Highland Light Infantry. He died in France on 18th April 1917, aged 32, of wounds received during the Battle of Arras. He had been born in Tweedmouth and was the husband of Christina Townsley of 36 Duke Street, Coldstream. He is buried in Nesle Communal Cemetery, France. The 16th H.L.I. was a ” Pals ” Battalion and was formed in 1914 mostly from current and former members of the Boys Brigade. Before the War he had been employed as a labourer by William Smith, builders of Coldstream. He had been a National Reservist in the K.O.S.B. but had been attatched to the H.L.I. ( He is also commemorated on the Coldstream War Memorial).  His brother Moses had been killed at Gallipoli on 12th July 1915 with the King’s Own Scottish Borderers and another brother Ambrose would be killed later in 1917 during the Battle of Third Ypres. The photograph shows British troops and a tank in a captured village near Arras.