Current Information:

Age-23

26, Cobbold Road, Shepherd's Bush

Estaires Communal Cemetery, France

At the start of the war the 2nd Royal Berkshire battalion were in India but they soon returned to England where they joined 25 Brigade of 8th Division. The division landed in France on 6th November, 1914 and on 14th November 2nd Berkshire moved into the trenches for the first time when they took over the front line at Fauquissart near Laventie for three days. They remained in this sector for the rest of the winter either in the front line or in reserve where they had to contend with cold and wet weather as well as the attentions of the enemy. 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. William Larner died from wounds on 13th January, 1915 but the exact date on which he was wounded is not known.