Corporal Richard Armstrong
Mrs. Armstrong, of Liverpool Road, Maghull, received official intimation that her husband, Corporal R. Armstrong, was killed in action at Ypres. Mrs. Armstrong’s brother was in the same regiment and he said that Corporal Armstrong was killed instantly by a shell and that only one man of that section escaped.
Prior to the war Corporal Armstrong was a member of the Southport Company of the National Reserve and at the outbreak of hostilities, he rejoined the Lancashire Fusiliers, with whom he had previously served in Egypt. Later he was transferred to the South Lancashire Regiment, and went with them to France on Good Friday 1915. Richard was the first Maghull man to fall in the war.
He left a wife and three children.
Second Lieutenant William George Hamm
William was awarded the Military Cross for “conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty”. The regimental war diary give the date of the award as March 21, 1917. The citation in the London Gazette of April 27, 1917 described the circumstances: ‘‘He showed great initiative in organising parties of bombers and patrols, and succeeded in securing many strong positions.
He set a splendid example throughout the operations”. Just days after this citation, William was reported as missing in action in the Liverpool Echo of 17th May. It emerged that he had been killed during the Battle for Oppy Wood.
He was initially buried on the Sunken Road at Bailleul-Sir-Berthoult, near Arras, later being re-interred at Orchard Dump Cemetery.
