Private 53659 William James Shropshire
Royal Welsh Fusiliers

William James Shropshire was born in 1893, the son of John and Fanny Shropshire, of Hendre Cottage, Llanfechain. We do not know when William Shropshire joined his Battalion, ‘A’ Coy., 1st Bn., Royal Welsh Fusiliers, but it and his division saw much action. It was attached to the 22nd Brigade in 7th Division. In October 1914 the Division covered the evacuation of the Belgian army. It then entrenched at Ypres, the first British troops to occupy that fateful place. It saw action in the First Battle of Ypres where it fought the advancing Germans to a standstill at Wipers, but suffered grievous losses. In 1915 it fought at the Battle of Neuve Chapelle, of Aubers, of Festubert, at the second action of Givenchy, and the Battle of Loos. It took part in the initial assault north of the
Vermelles-Hulluch road where it suffered from gas and was badly cut up by German machine gun and artillery fire but seized its objective and only just failed to penetrate the third German line. In 1916 the Division saw action at the Battle of Albert in which it captured Mametz; the Battle of Bazentin and the attacks on High Wood, the Battle of Delville Wood, the Battle of Guillemont (September 1916) all being  phases of the Battles of the Somme.  So one may assume William James Shropshire was involved in much of this action before being wounded. He died on 5th December 1916 age 23 and is buried in Mailly Wood Cemetery, Somme, France.  (Grave reference: II. B. 6.)