William Henry Baguley Lambert

1st Bn King's Royal Rifle Corps were near Courcelette on the Somme in early February 1917 but it was an unusual deployment. Their war diary entry for 1/2/1917 recorded: 'The front line consists of a series of posts: these stand quite alone, there being no communication by trench between any. Each post holds an average of 15 men and a Lewis Gun. All movement has to be carried out over open ground there being no trenches whatever.' The entry for February 4th noted: 'A comparatively quiet day. The Commanding Officer and myself (the Adjutant) visited all posts after nightfall. Casualties 1 Rfn killed and 2 wounded.' It must be assumed that William Lambert was the single battalion fatality that day. (Source: 1st Bn King's Royal Rifle Corps War Diary [TNA WO95/1371/2_2]) NB: The Last Post was originally played after the final guard post of an encampment had been inspected to check that all was secure for the night. For decades this was the sole use of the call. It was not until the 1850s that, when a soldier died in a foreign land, a new custom arose of the regimental bugler sounding the Last Post over the grave. The Last Post came to signal the end not merely of the day but of this earthly life. And, as the practice developed - back home as well as abroad - it was then followed by few moments of silent prayer and by the sounding of Reveille, the first call of the day, to signify the man's rebirth into eternal life. (Source: BBC News Magazine 11/11/2015 'The Last Post') David Nunn

Courcelette British Cemetery, Somme, Grave Reference: I D 2 His birth was registered J/F/M/1892 so he may have been 25 when killed.