Site Home
This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site you agree to accept cookies.
If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation.
Great War Home
Search
Add Stories & Photos
Library
Help & FAQs
Features
Allied Army
Day by Day
RFC & RAF
Prisoners of War
War at Sea
Training for War
The Battles
Those Who Served
Hospitals
Civilian Service
Women at War
The War Effort
Central Powers Army
Central Powers Navy
Imperial Air Service
Library
World War Two
Submissions
Add Stories & Photos
Time Capsule
Information
Help & FAQs
Glossary
Our Facebook Page
Volunteering
News
Events
Contact us
Great War Books
About
217693Pte. William Wycherley
British Army 2nd Btn. Manchester Regiment
from:Cheetham Hill, Manchester
(d.12th Sep 1917)
William Wycherley was executed 12/9/17 for desertion and buried in Coxyde Military Cemetery , Belgium.
Private William Wycherley was one of the men executed by his own side during the Great War. Generally, these men are titled "Shot at Dawn". This work does not cast any judgment on the men or their actions, especially Pte Wycherley. It simply reports the facts as they have been found.
Although it is not clear exactly when William joined the army, his marriage certificate to May Owen, dated 16th June 1915, shows him as serving as a Private with the Manchester Regiment. At the time he is recorded as being 22 years old with an occupation of Grocer's Assistant. His address was 1, Beesley Street, Prescot. His wife Mary was aged 25 and lived in Fallowfield, Manchester. Private William Wycherley had been absent on at least two occasions prior to the final case, which resulted in his execution. His initial offence, for which the punishment is not known, was to overstay his leave in the UK by seven weeks. He then deserted as his battalion, the 2nd Manchesters, was making its way to the front line. Again, the punishment is not known.
Then on 25th June 1917, Private Wycherley complained of feeling sick just before going over the top and he disappeared. His battalion had just recently taken over the inner sector of the Nieuport bridgehead, close to the sea. No offensive operations were planned for this sector, indeed any action was likely to be purely defensive, as the battalion had been ordered to retain the line at all costs. It seems likely that Pte. Wycherley's trip "over the top" was to be part of a trench raid, perhaps gathering intelligence on the enemy troops facing them. Two days after going missing, William Wycherley was arrested at Etaples, where he gave false identity details. Once his true identify was uncovered, he was returned to the northern Belgian coast to face his punishment and was executed on 12th September 1917 at Coxyde. He was 24 years old.
The mass pardon of 306 British Empire soldiers executed for certain offences during the Great War was enacted in section 359 of the Armed Forces Act 2006, which came into effect on royal assent on 8th November 2006.
Related Content:
Can you help us to add to our records?
The names and stories on this website have been submitted by their relatives and friends. If your relations are not listed please add their names so that others can read about them
Did your relative live through the Great War? Do you have any photos, newspaper clippings, postcards or letters from that period? Have you researched the names on your local or war memorial?
If so please let us know.
Do you know the location of a Great War "Roll of Honour?"We are very keen to track down these often forgotten documents and obtain photographs and transcriptions of the names recorded so that they will be available for all to remember.
Help us to build a database of information on those who served both at home and abroad so that future generations may learn of their sacrifice.
Celebrate your own Family History
Celebrate by honouring members of your family who served in the Great War both in the forces and at home. We love to hear about the soldiers, but also remember the many who served in support roles, nurses, doctors, land army, muntions workers etc.
Please use our Family History resources to find out more about your relatives. Then please send in a short article, with a photo if possible, so that they can be remembered on these pages.
The free section of The Wartime Memories Project is run by volunteers.
This website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions.
If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running.
Hosted by:
Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV
- All Rights Reserved -We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.