Willie Read

Born: 14 July 1894

Died: 27 February 1917

Rank and Regiment: Lance Corporal 14210 “B” Coy. in the 9th Battalion of the East Lancashire Regiment

Resting Place: body unrecovered

Memorials: St. Margaret’s, Garvestone, United Kingdom and; Doiran Memorial, Greece.

He was born on 14 July 1894 in Garvestone, one of eleven children of the defiantly “single woman” Sarah Ann Read (1859-1947). He was baptised at Garvestone on 6 February 1898.

He enlisted in the East Lancashire Regiment, his place of enlistment curiously being recorded as Manchester. Although few of his military records survive, he appears to have enlisted fairly early in the War, for he is recorded as seeing action on 3 September 1915.

He was killed on 27 February 1917 and evidently his body was never found, as he is commemorated on the Doiran Memorial, Greece.

2,171 men of the British Salonika Force who have no known grave are commemorated on that memorial, which stands on the border between Greece and what is now North Macedonia. It was the location of the Second Battle of Doiran, a decisive victory by the Bulgarian defenders against the Allied forces, who lost 12,000 men to the Bulgarians’ 2,000.

Willie Read’s worldly wealth, amounting to £17 16s 5d., was paid out to his mother.

Doiran Memorial, Greece