William Boylin was born in 1891 at Whitchurch. He was the youngest of 5 children, with elder siblings Ada, Sarah, Ann and Joseph. Their mother and father were called Richard and Emily. By 1901 they were living at Little Sutton, Ellesmere Port, where William’s father worked as a labourer on the Manchester Ship Canal. In 1909 William married Emily Williams from Condover; they would have 3 children – Reginald, John and Elsi. In 1911 they were living at Burlton where William was working as an agricultural labourer. Sometime afterwards they would move to Oswestry and lived at 12 Duke Street, Oswestry. At this time William was working for the Cambrian Railways but by the outbreak of war was employed as a vanman on deliveries for Whitchurch Cooperative Society – his mother was now living at Whitchurch.

William had previously been in the King’s Shropshire Light Infantry (Private 19416) probably enlisting in 1915. At some point he transferred over to Royal Engineers into 2 Special Battalion. The Special Battalions were formed in 1916 to specialise in the new gas warfare as an offensive weapon, they were the troops who set up and discharged gas – used to great effect by the Germans during First Ypres and for the first time by the British at Loos in 1915. William, in 2 Special Battalion, worked with gas discharges from cylinders rather than gas shells as well as laying down smoke screens during offensives.

He was killed on 17 January 1917 by a shell when in the trenches, probably at Grenay near to Loos when, on 17 January 1917, Canadian troops were in action. William is buried at Maroc British Cemetery, Grenay. He is also commemorated on the war memorial at Whitchurch. His medals, British War and Victory awards, were returned under Kings Regulations Para 992, it is not known what then happened to them – it is possible that his widow/wife, Emily, had re married and/or moved.

Acknowledgements.

References and Sources

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