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Serjeant 4725
Royal Fusiliers 13th
Battalion (City of London Regiment)
Died 13-October-1918 aged
26
William was born in 1892 in Banstead Surrey.
He was the son of Frederick Farley and Emily Parsons of 13 Mint Cottages,
Park Road, Banstead. Frederick Farley, originally from Burgh Heath
was a General Labourer.
William was one of four children, the
others recoded in census as an elder brother, Charles Frederick, and two
younger sisters, Emily and Rose Farley.
At the age of eighteen
William was a domestic gardener in Banstead.
The 13th
(Service) Battalion was formed at Hounslow on 13 September 1914 as part of
K3 and attached as Army Troops to 24th Division.
In December 1914, William Married Grace Edith Finch. Grace, born May 1894 in Warsham, Norfolk, was the daughter of John Finch and Elizabeth Sutton. Her younger brother, Walter Leedell, married Rose Farley, the younger sister of William Farley.
In March 1915 the battalion was transferred to then 111th Brigade of the 37th Division.
They landed at Boulogne on 30 July 1915.
Wood panel
All Saints
Church
Banstead. |
William died of
wounds in France in October 1918.
It is possible that William was wounded on the 4th October when the 13th Royal Fusiliers attacked with 13th KRRC
and were supported by the 10th Royal Fusiliers. Both battalions were in
111th Brigade on 4th October. The Day-by-Day Account notes that 'attacking
at 6 am, they came under fire from a blockhouse and Lewis Farm, which had
been missed by the barrage. This hindered the Fusiliers as they performed
a wheeling manoeuvre with the aim of taking the dug-outs strung out in the
northern part of Gheluvelt Wood. As they wheeled they came under increased
fire from Lewis Farm and the blockhouse and were forced to dig in short of
their final objective'.
Grace Farley remarried in Walsingham after the war, in June 1919. Her second husband was George Smith
Grave Reference: XIII. D. 15.
ROCQUIGNY-EQUANCOURT ROAD
BRITISH CEMETERY,
MANANCOURT Somme, France.
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