WILLIS A S

WILLIS, Arthur Sydney

Regiment: 230th Siege Battery Royal Garrison Artillery

Rank: Gunner

Number: 69406

Died: 28 March 1918

Aged: 22

Buried/ Memorial: Aubigny Communal Cemetery Extension, France

Address: ‘Hoole Old Hall’, Hoole Village

Chester Chronicle 13 April 1918

GUNNER A.S. WILLIS (DIED OF WOUNDS)

“We regret to announce that Gunner Arthur Sydney Willis, son of Mr. and Mrs. J.H. Willis, Hoole Old Hall, has died of shell wounds received in action in the Arras district on March 28th. Gunner Willis, who was a bright and promising young man, enlisted two years last February. He was previously wounded having been shot through the thigh, when acting last year as a dispatch rider at Messines Ridge. The deceased was educated at Trafford School, and before joining up, worked on his father’s farm. He attended All Saint’s Church, Hoole. Much sympathy with the bereaved family.”

The 1911 Census shows Sidney as a 15-year-old living at Hoole Old Hall and helping with the farming, with father Joseph, mother Elizabeth, brothers Linden and Edgar, sister Mabel, aunt Mary Jones and Nellie Dickinson and Ada Davies both servants.