No.404550, Private, William James CORNISH
Aged 19
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Born in 1897 ( Bury St.Edmunds 3rd qtr 4a:827 ) son of Edward and Annie Elizabeth CORNISH (née TURNER) His mother married Edward CORNISH in Bury St.Edmunds in 1893. 1901 census...Aged 3, he was at 8 Battleys Yard, Westgate Street, Bury St.Edmunds wth his widowed mother Elizabeth CORNISH [37] a tailor's machinist, born Attleborough; half-brothers Harry TURNER [18]printer/compositor and Arthur TURNER [13]; brother William CORNISH [5]; grandfather widower Charles TURNER [79] bricklayer's labourer born Higham. All the children were born in Bury St.Edmunds. 3 children, Herbert Harry, Arthur Robert and Annie Elizabeth TURNER apear to be illegitimate. 1911 census...Aged 13, an errand boy, he was at Westgate Place, Westgate Street, Bury St,Edmunds with his mother; invalid grandfather Charles TURNER; half sister Annie RICHARDSON (married) [25] a cook; half brother Arthur (miller) and brother Edward (telegraph boy) The pension card has his mother moving to Risante House, Lynn Road, Ely, ad later back at 9 Westgate Place, Westgate Road, Bury St.Edmunds. His brother Edward died in 1915 see here |
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He enlisted in Bury St.Edmunds. The action on 17th February 1917 was the battle for Boom Ravine. Heavy casualties from the start since some British deserters had told the Germans of the plans and they were waiting for our troops. The icy weather had ended and the thaw had meant the ground was now a sea of chalky mud and forming up for zero hour in the mist at night was made more difficult by a heavy German barrage, they knowing the zero hour. Despite this early objectives were taken and the Suffolk found themsleves within a few hundred yards of Petit Miramount where consolidation was made easier by the mist hiding them. The battalion suffered 130 casualties, of the 36 killed, 25 are buried now in Regina Trench cemetery.
click here to go to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website for full cemetery/memorial details |
