210562 Pte. William Moses Elwick British Army 1st Battalion Durham Light Infantry from:Middlesborough, Yorkshire (d.4th Apr 1918) I have just rediscovered my great uncle after many decades. He was only living within our extended family for a short time. He and my Great Aunt Grace Benson were married in the last quarter of 1917. His name was William Moses Elwick. He was born in 1879 in Lythe, a small Yorkshire village. Later he moved to Middlesbrough. On December 10th 1915, age 36, he joined the British Army, was mobilised and posted - probably to France - on March 22nd, 1916. He was in the 1st and 5th Battalions of the Durham Light Infantry, in the 150th Brigade of the 50th Northumbrian Division. On April 4th 1918, somewhere close to the French/Belgium border in that brutal trench warfare of WW1, William died. His body was never found. He is commemorated on Panels 8/9 of the Ploegsteert Memorial in Belgium.
I do not know how long Grace and William had known each other, but I do know that she never recovered from his death. She carried a torch for him for the rest of her life. The sepia photograph of a WW1 soldier on a shelf was all we children knew of him. I gave no thought to him until now. Rediscovering my Great Uncle has made me reflect on war - on this war in particular - and, upon the thousands and thousands whose lives were similarly ripped apart by death and loss. Each one deserves to be named, and remembered with gratitude. It is never too late. I now call out the name of William Moses Elwick. It will be Remembrance Day in 11 days.
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