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Pc William Henry WILSON - GER Police


The GER Memorial at Liverpool Street in its current location.  William Henry WILSON is recorded in the main list of names.  The Memorial was opened by Field Marshal Sir Henry WILSON (no relation) in 1922.  He was murdered by the IRA on the same day and a separate plaque to him can be seen on the bottom right of the photograph.


The huge cyber attack on the British Library has brought a halt to my slow trawl through Police Review but I have been able to find a couple of volumes from 1914 and 1915.

The impact of the declaration of war in August 1914 on the police forces of the United Kingdon was immediate and massive.  Large number of police officers who were reservists left their jobs to re-join the armed forces.  They were replaced by hastily attested Special Constables.  This was true of the railway police forces as it was for the county, metropolitan and borough constabularies.

Inevitably it wasn’t long before Police Review is full of reports of police officers in the army and navy, closely followed by news of casualties. 

We can’t be sure of who the first railway policeman was to fall in the Great War but it is most likely to have been Pc William Henry WILSON of the Great Eastern Railway Police  (Liverpool Street) who was killed 23 August 1914 at the Battle of the Canal during the German assault on Mons.  William Henry WILSON had only been in the force for a couple of years, he previously worked as a horse keeper for the railway.  He had originally joined the army in 1903 and, as a reservist, he returned to the colours as a private in the Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment), when war was declared on 4th August 1914. 

Pc WILSON was aged 29 when he was killed.  A single man, he lived with his parents in Homerton, east London.   His Mother received a (very) small weekly pension until at least the mid 1920s.  Pte/Pc WILSON has no known grave.  He name appears on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission memorial at LA FERTE-SOUS-JOUARRE MEMORIAL.  His sacrifice is also recorded on the fine memorial at Liverpool Street Station.  The British Transport Police History Group (BTPHG) has his name recorded on the Roll of Honour of railway, dock and canal police officers who gave their lives during years 1914-1918.  BTPHG has done a great job in ensuring that officers killed on duty and during the world wars are commemorated.

We will remember them.

 

Phil Trendall

January 2024

 

Sources

Police Review and Parade Gossip Vol XXIII Issue 1149, 01 Jan 1915 P10

1911 Census

The records of the Commonwealth War Garves Commission

The website of the British Transport Police History Group:  www.btphg.org.uk

 

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