11091 Private William Henry Bird Abson of the 8th (Service) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers, was killed in action on this day, 7th August, 1915. He was one of 23 Northumberland Fusiliers other ranks to lose his life on this day.
Soldiers Died in The Great War records that he was born at Leeds and enlisted at Wallsend-on-Tyne. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the war memorial at Helles, Gallipoli.
William was born in about 1889. He appears on the 1891 as a two year old infant living with his parents, siblings and maternal grandmother at number 2 Wakefield Street, Rothwell, Yorkshire. The household comprised his parents: John Abson (head, aged 37, a carpenter and joiner) and Sarah Abson (aged 32); their children: Thomas Abson (aged eight), Martha Abson (aged six), William, and Beatrice S Abson (aged three months). Ellen Bird (aged 61) was Sarah Abson's mother.
I've not found a convincing match for William on the 1901 census an no military service record appears to survive for him. His army service number though, suggests that he joined the Northumberland Fusiliers in September 1914, and his medal index card states that he arrived in the Balkans on 10th July 1915.
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.
Sources:
Ancestry.co.uk (MIC, 1891 census)
Army Ancestry
Army Service Numbers 1881-1918
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Helles Memorial photo from e.turkey.net
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