Subject

Soldier in the Machine Gun Corps killed in Wytschaete.

Andrew Behan has researched Howes: Private William Leslie Howes was born in 1898 in Sheerness, Kent and his birth was registered in the third quarter of 1898 in Sheppey, Kent. He was a son of William Howes and Ellen Elizabeth Howes née Griffiths and at the time of the 1901 census his father was a Coach Builder and the family were living at 42 High Street, Sheerness. The 1911 census shows the family had moved to 84 Sumatra Road, Hampstead and his father was a Foreman Farrier for the Great Central Railway. It also showed that his parents had also had another child, but who had died.

He enlisted at Hampstead in the Machine Gun Corps, service number 129475, and was attached to their 9th Company when he was killed in action, aged 19 years, on 16 April 1918. As he has no known grave he is commemorated on Panels 154 to 159 of the Tyne Cot Memorial, Zonnebeke, Ypres, West Flanders, Belgium. His home address at the time of his death was 28 Solent Road, West Hampstead. On 5 October 1918 his mother received his £5-16s-9d army effects and on 29 November 1919 a £3-0s-0d war gratuity. He was posthumously awarded the British War Medal 1914-1918 and the Victory Medal.