Private William Grey

Private William Grey, 1st/5th ( Territorial ) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers. He was killed in action in France on 25th March 1918, aged 26, during the German Spring Offensives. He was the son of George and Annie Grey of 25 Liddle Terrace, Widdington and the husband of Isabella Grey of 21 Weatherly Square, Berwick-upon-Tweed.  He is commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial, Somme, France. At that time the Battalion were holding defensive positions near Harbonniers and were expecting further German attacks. The photographs show Allied troops in defensive positions preparing to resist the oncoming Germans. The final photo shows the impressive Memorial raised to the 50th ( Northumbrian ) Division of which the Battalion was part of until July 1918 when it was reduced to cadre and assigned to lines of communications duties. It was erected near the village of Weiltje in the Ypres Salient where nearby on the 26th April 1915 the Division had fought its first action of the War only days after landing on the Continent.

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