Machine Gun Corps (Infantry), 192nd Battalion, Service no. 99041
Died 7th February 1919 aged 28.
Story
William was the son of James Burley and Mary Ann Townend, of Robinson Lane, Kippax. He married Violet Pattinson in Garforth on 9th April 1917. After his death, Violet re-married George Hutchinson, and passed away in Burton Leonard in 1984.
The Machine Gun Corps
was formed in October 1915 in response to the need for a more effective use of Machine Guns in the First World War. The 192nd Battalion saw active service as part of the 6th Division of the British Army from 15th December 1916. The Division was involved in The Cambrai Operations in 1917 and amongst many actions including the Battles of the Somme, and Battles of the Hindenburg Line in 1918. The regiment was disbanded in 1922.
The Division was billeted around Bohain at the Armistice on 11th November 1918. It was selected to march into Germany as part of the occupation force and began to move 14th – 18th November to Solre-le-Chateau to assemble. The Division crossed the German border on 13th December and reached its destination at Bruehl on 23rd December 1918.
The soldiers in the Machine Gun Corps were specially trained in the effective use of the Machine Gun as a weapon of War. Some 170,500 officers and men served in the MGC with 62,049 becoming casualties, including 12,498 killed, earning it the nickname ‘the Suicide Club’. They saw action in all the major theatres of war including France, Palestine, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Salonika, East Africa and Italy.
William had a brother, Edward, who was held as a prisoner of War in Germany, but escaped and walked 5 nights from Germany to Holland to escape back home.
William survived all of the conflict, but was tragically killed in an accident at Clipstone Camp in Mansfield on his way home from France on 7th February 1919. He is buried in the Graveyard at St Mary’s Church, Kippax in the North East Corner.
Kippax Roll of Honour 