Current Information:

Born-Rotherhithe

Bethune Town Cemetery, France

On 2nd April, 1915, the 2nd Coldstream Guards of 4 Brigade, 2nd Division, left their billets in Le Quesnoy and moved into the front line at Givenchy, near La Bassée for two days. William Websdale died from wounds on 5th April but the battalion diary provides no further information concerning his death. The attrition rate among British soldiers on the Western Front was on average 300 each day and 60% of these were as a result of shellfire. When not involved in an actual battle it was either shell fire or a sniper’s bullet that caused most deaths and injuries.