BORN – Treflach
HOMEFRONT – Place / Occupation / TrefonenWM / St Oswald’s Church
JOB – House Painter / Decorator
UNIT – 5 Bn King’s Shropshire Light Infantry
RANK – Lance Corporal 6944
THEATRE – Loos / Battle of Loos. Bn King’s Shropshire Light Infantry
DIED – KIA 25 September 1915. Aged 32.
BURIED – Menin Gate, Ypres (grave unknown). (CWGC)
William Salter was born and grew up in Treflach in 1883. He was the sixth of nine children – Herbert, Charles, Arthur, Catherine, Francis, John, Frank and Percy; the youngest, (born in 1891). His father was John Charles Salter, a domestic gardener; his mother was Mary Jane Salter. The family lived at Woodhill Lodge, Treflach. In 1901 William was working for Mr G A George, a house painter and decorator. In 1906 he married Mary Jane Davies and they moved into Oswestry Town to live at 6A Albert Road. They had 4 children: Lilian; born in 1907, William; in 1910, Henrietta; in 1913 and Dinah; in 1915.
Before the war, William was a Special Reservist Territorial in the King’s Shropshire Light Infantry. At the outbreak of war he was either mobilised or volunteered (as a ‘time served Special Reservist) and was posted to 5 Bn KSLI. He went over to France with the battalion over 21/22 May 1915. He was KIA on 25 September 1915 at Railway Wood, Ypres. He was at first listed as wounded and missing. The battalion was involved in a diversionary action to draw enemy troops away from the main assault at the Battle of Loos. His body was lost and he is commemorated on the Menin Gate, Ypres and has no known grave. William is also commemorated on the war memorial at Trefonen and St Oswald’s Church, Oswestry.
His obituary tells of ‘a skillful and intelligent workman, a true friend, trusted and esteemed by all who knew him. A brave and unselfish man who when his country called for volunteers was amongst the first to respond’. After the war his widow remarried (1923) and went back to live with the children in her home village of Montford Bridge. His brothers Frank and Percy also served. Frank was in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, enlisting as a Private and gaining a commission. He went with his regiment to Egypt and served through the Gallipoli campaign and then in the Middle East. Percy, the youngest and former solicitor’s clerk, in 1918 was training in England. It is not known if he served overseas. Both brothers survived the war.
Also killed during the same action and from 5 Bn KSLI were Private 11378 Valentine R Sperring and Lance Corporal 10761 Richard H Williams.
Acknowledgements. Trefonen War Memorial
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