205784 Henry Charles Billington British Army Kings Liverpool Regiment from:Everton, Liverpool Henry Charles Billington was born in 1894 in Everton, Liverpool. At the out break of WW1 was a merchant seaman. He arrived home from a voyage and was presented with a white feather because he was not in uniform and it was this act that prompted him to join up.
He joined the Kings Liverpool Regt. in 1914 possibly 1/5 Battalion (although not 100% sure). He was a Lewis Gunner and served during the Battle of the Somme and during the first Battle of Ypres better known as Passchendaele. He was at some point taken prisoner of war during the Battle having spent two days in a shell hole with a dead German soldier.
When taken prisoner he was located in a camp in Southern Germany where he got a job as a trustee in the bakery, and believe that it was mainly a Russian prison camp.
Although, thankfully, Henry survived the war it's my understanding he was wounded twice during his time at the Front prior to being taken prisoner.
Henry lived to a good old age of 71 and died in Prescot Liverpool in 1966.
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