Private William Thorne

William Thorne was born in Great Torrington in 18th April 1878. His mother is recorded as being Mary Ann Thorne who, in the 1881 census, was 37 years old and her noted occupation as being a ‘gloveress’. William, who is 3 at this time, has a sister who is also called Mary; she is aged 5 years. The 1881 census has them living with William’s aunt, Sarah Thorne, aged 44, in her property at New Street. Sarah’s daughter, Elizabeth, 24, is also resident. Both mother and daughter are also listed as working in the gloving industry. I have not been able to find any record of William’s father.

William enrolled into the Great Torrington Council School (for boys) in 1885. A newspaper cutting remarked that he did well at school and that for some time he taught in the school as a monitor [1]. It was common practice at the turn of the century to put the most able students in charge as monitors to help teach them, the monitors would be expected to attend school earlier so they could be taught then.

On leaving school William took up an apprenticeship with a local printing business in the town, owned by Mr TJ Dyer. Once this position had run its course, William moved to London where he worked as an ‘improver’. However, would return to Great Torrington again as the manager of Mr Dyer’s printing business.

At the time of the 1911 census William is living in Great Torrington in New Street. He is married to Lily, formerly Hearn, who was born in Barnstaple in 1880. They were married in May 1908. They would have one child, Winifred, born in 1915. The family had moved to the St Thomas area of Exeter by this time.

Tyne Cot Memorial, Belguim

William enlisted in Exeter in 1916 with the Royal Irish Rifles and was assigned to 9th Battalion. His service number was 44896. The 9th Battalion was the West Belfast unit formed from volunteers in Belfast in September 1914. The unit landed ay Boulogne in France in October 1915. Both the 8th and 9th Battalions suffered significant casualties at the Battle of Albert in 1916 and it took them the rest of that year to rebuild, William would have been part of that strengthening.

Following the period of rebuilding, the Royal Irish Rifles, under the wider command of 36th Ulster Division, would be thrown into action again in 1917. The Battle of Langemarck was one of ten smaller battles that made up the Flanders Offensive in 1917; this has otherwise gone down in history as the Third Battle of Ypres.

Third Battle of Ypres, 1917

The Third of the Ypres battles is more commonly known as the Battle of Passchendaele. Unlike the previous two battles in 1914 and 1915, which were launched by the Germans, Passchendaele was instigated by the British and was intended to be the Allied forces breakthrough in Flanders. The operation was the ‘mastermind’ of Sir Douglas Haig with the aim of driving the Germans away from the Channel ports on the Belgian coast, thus eliminating the U-boat ports, which were crippling shipping movements and causing untold damage to the war effort. A secondary worry was the instability of the Russian involvement in the war with a looming revolution and their exit could see an influx of additional German units onto the western front after redeployment from the east.

Haig was convinced the German spirit and resolve were weakening, not least after the recent success at Messines Ridge earlier in June of 1917, which was particularly remembered for the simultaneous explosion of nineteen massive mines that had been tunnelled under the German lines by Allied Engineers. However, this was not the first time Haig had made mistaken prophecies of deteriorating German spirit; the lead up to the Battle of the Somme, for example.

The first attack was launched on the 31 July 1917 following a two week precursor barrage that saw some 4.5 million shells fired. Other than the fact that the well entrenched and fortified German lines were largely unscathed, the atrocious weather conditions, coupled with the bombardment, had turned the central no-man’s land into a treacherous quagmire. As well as slowing infantry movements, immobilising tanks and clogging machinery and weaponry, the relatively flat landscapes made stealth and cover virtually impossible leading to a perfect kill-zone for the defenders. To top all of this, the Germans were familiar with the modus operandi of prosaic British tactics and were well aware that intensive bombing would lead to a final crescendo of an overland attack, so there was no element of surprise to be had.

The attack, grotesquely costly in terms of the estimated 275,000 British casualties, finally stuttered to a halt in early November following the capture of the Passchendaele village. Haig disingenuously claimed a victory, but the offensive had not been anything like the breakthrough intended. Even these meagre pickings of conquest can largely be proportioned to the Canadian’s bravery and tactical ingenuity following Haig’s order for them to deliver success. Arriving in mid October and relieving the incumbent Australian and New Zealanders, the Canadians meticulously prepared for the attack by improving the supply infrastructure and bolstering defences. The following attack, costing 16,000 lives, delivered the village and an excuse for Haig to relinquish any further slaughter.

The Battle of Langemarck was fought through the muddy swamp just east of the city of Ypres from 16-18 August 1917. The 9th Royal Irish Rifles were under the command of the 36th Ulster Division. Even in the weeks before the battle, the Irish were not spared the horrors of the front and were assigned to duties to evacuate the wounded, dig forward trenches and bury communication cables, which were, as often as not, destroyed a short time afterwards by shellfire. By the time zero-hour arrived the 36th were already down a third on their strength and even those men available to go over the top were so weakened by their ordeal that they were not fit for combat.

On August 16 five British divisions, including the 36th Ulster Division, and two French divisions attacked the German positions. Weary British troops were pitched against well-constructed German bunkers, concentrated batteries and clusters of heavy machine guns. What ensued was akin to a massacre. Of Langemarck, Major-General Nugent wrote to his wife and compared the operation to the first day of the Battle of the Somme. It was also noted that the attacking force was reduced by a third within half a minute. One soldier wrote afterwards of the mud that had the consistency of quicksand that he saw swallow men up. The attacks at Langemarck were easily repelled by the German defenders. Amongst the casualties in the fighting on the 17th August 1917, was Private William Thorne. Reports state that he was shot down and died instantly.

William has no headstone, he is remembered at the Tyne Cot Memorial in Belguim. He left a wife and daughter, who were resident in 9 Louise Terrace at the time. He was 39 years old. Although I have been unable to contact any descendants, I am working on a number of leads that I am hopeful will provide further information. I would be interested to hear from you if you have any further details.

[1] North Devon Journal. September 7th 1915. ‘Torrington Soldier Killed in Action’.