Soldier Record

William Deane was born on 5th August 1898 the son of Edwin and Scarlet Deane. His father Edwin was a pedlar or hawker and they lived at Cross Row which was near Silver Street, Wincanton in Somerset. William had one brother Charles who was four years older than him and a sister, Florence Louise. Both the boys and their sister were born in Wincanton as was their father, his mother Scarlet was born in Henstridge, Somerset. William worked for the local veterinary surgeon Mr. Joseph Robins before joining the army at Yeovil in 1915 when he was 17 years old he lied about his age. He was described as a likeable lad and well known in the town. William went to France in late July 1916 amongst the replacements for the horrific losses suffered by the Somerset Light Infantry during the Battle of the Somme, joining the 1st Battalion. Although the Battle of the Somme is rightly remembered for the carnage of its first day (1st July when 57,000 casualties were suffered in one day) the terrible battle raged on until November and William immediately found himself into the thick of it and a very traumatic experience it must have been. On 1st May 1917 the battalion rested in Arras and undertook some training in preparation to attack the village of Roeux. By the evening of the 2nd they had marched from Arras and were in position, zero hour being 3.45 a.m. on the 3rd May. It was a very dull dark night and as the Somersets entered Roeux Wood it was impossible to see anything.

Unknown to them the wood contained large numbers of enemy machine guns and had not been shelled by British artillery. All contact was lost with several platoons and although some got through to Rouex village 132 of them were killed, wounded or missing. William Deane who was now nearly 19 years old was amongst those killed that night, just ten months after arriving in France. He is buried at the Rouex British Cemetery plot C 2.