Dates:
War Service:
Private 6535 WILLIAM WILSON KEY of 1/14th battalion London Regiment (London Scottish) was killed in action on 1 July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme. He enlisted on 10 December 1915, went to France on 13 May 1916 and eventually joined his battalion on 24 May.
On the morning of 1 July 1916 the 56th ( London) Division, which included the London Scottish, took part in the diversionary attack on the German defences in front of the village of Gommecourt with the intention of preventing men and guns being moved to counter the main attack taking place to the South. The battalion’s casualties that day amounted to 14 officers and 544 other ranks killed, wounded or missing.
He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme.
Location of Memorial:
He is remembered on the war memorial at the Private Banks Cricket and Athletic Club in Catford. He is also remembered on the memorials at the High School of Dundee, the Newport on Tay Civic Memorial and on the plaque in St Thomas Church, Newport.
Details:
He was the son of Margaret Key and in 1901 he was living at Bonawe, Wormit, with his mother and a younger brother Walter. He was educated at the High School of Dundee. He was a clerk with the London & Provincial Bank and lived at 209 Westcombe Hill, Greenwich.
Source:
Service record
1901 Census
Contributed By:
Andy Pepper
Hugh Macrae
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