The Somme Remembered – 12th July 1916

Willie Archer Houseman served in the King’s Own (Liverpool) Regiment after enlisting in Liverpool.  Willie served as Private 24484 and Died of Wounds on the 12th of July.

In the 1901 census Willie, born in Halifax, was the youngest son of Frederick and Mary Houseman.  Frederick Houseman worked as a grocer’s manager – home was 40 Woodside Road, Halifax.  Ten years later in 1911, Willie, was the only child, of two born to Mary, that was living at home. Frederick was employed as the General Manager of a Co-operative Society and home was 50 Cowley Road, Walton, Liverpool.

Willie, as we know, died of wounds received during the hostilities.  He was eligible for the Victory and British Medals, which would have been sent to his brother  – his brother, Charles Frederick House, according the one record, was the person to whom all monies would have been sent.  The Probate entry for Willie gives details of his regiment, date and place of death along with two people who would receive a share of his £147 1s 8d, they were his brother Charles, who was now working as a civil servant and a lady named Sarah Jane Houseman, who was a widow – but whose?  It appears that Willie’s mother died and in 1908 Frederick Houseman married Sarah Jane in Halifax before he moved to Liverpool and declared he had and Sarah had been married 2 years on the 1911 census form.

Abbeville Communal Cemetery via CWGC

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission entry for Willie tells that he rests in Abbeville Communal Cemetery, where he rests along with over 790 other identified casualties. According to the CWGC  ‘Abbeville was headquarters of the Commonwealth lines of communication and No.3 BRCS, No.5 and No.2 Stationary Hospitals were stationed there variously from October 1914 to January 1920. The communal cemetery was used for burials from November 1914 to September 1916, the earliest being made among the French military graves. The extension was begun in September 1916’.