8571 Pte William E Syratt, 2nd Northamptonshire Regiment

8571 Private William Edward Syratt of the 2nd Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment was killed in action on the 4th January 1915. He was born in Buckingham and enlisted at Northampton on the 16th August 1907. He was therefore just a couple of weeks away from being transferred to the Reserve when war was declared.

William's service record - 39 pages of it - survives in WO 363 and from it we can see that he was eighteen years and five months old when he joined up and that he was a shoe finisher by trade. He stood five feet, five and a half inches tall, weighed 114 pounds, had a fair complexion, green eyes and brown hair. He was tattooed on both forearms and had a scar on the back of his neck.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records that William was 28 years old, the son of William and Elizabeth Syratt of 54 Spencer Street, New Bradwell, Wolverton, Bucks. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Le Touret War Memorial.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry (MIC, WO 363)
Soldiers Died in The Great War
Army Service Numbers
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission