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.