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World War 1 One ww1 wwII greatwar great 1914 1918 first battalion regiment
L/Sgt. William Frederick Atkins
British Army (TF) D Coy 1/23rd London Regiment
(d.26th May 1915)
William Atkins was from Lambeth and was working as an off licence porter when in February 1912 he joined his local Territorial unit, D Coy 1/23rd (County of London) Bn London Regiment. He was 17 years old when he joined up, and 20 when he was killed in action on 26th May 1915.
Two of William's brothers were pre-War Regular Army soldiers: John (Cpl 2307347 John Charles Atkins) was with 5th Divisional Signals Coy, RE, and was taken POW at the battle of Le Cateau on 23rd August 1914; Herbert(Pte 14413 Herbert Ernest King Atkins) was with 2nd Bn Royal Fusiliers and was part of the invasion force which landed at X Beach at Gallipoli on 25th April.
In August 1914 the Londons were mobilised while on summer camp at Salisbury Plain, and they disembarked from SS Copenhagen in France on 16th March 1915, entering the trenches on 11th April. As part of 142nd Brigade, 47th (2nd London) Division, they took part in the frontal attack on the German 56th Infantry regimentat trenches just north of Givenchy on 25th May in concert with their sister Territorial battalions from the Brigade (20th, 22nd and 24th Bns).
Attacking at 6.30pm William and his D Coy comrades charged and took the German front and support lines, and subsequently the battalion held them against counterattack and heavy enfilade shelling and machinegun fire until the few survivors were relieved at 3pm the next day by 20th Londons. William, along with at least 200 of his comrades, was killed in this action; 304 more soldiers of 23rd Londons were wounded.
On the same day but many hundreds of miles away in Gallipoli, William's 23-year-old brother was also killed, shot dead by a sniper while negotiating a flooded trench.
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