Current Information:

Age-30

12, Gainsborough Road, Plaistow

Lower Fahan Churchyard, Donegal, Ireland 

HMS Liverpool was a light cruiser of the 2nd Battle Squadron which, on 27th October 1914 was on gunnery exercises off the Scottish west coast. The battleship, HMS Audacious ran into a German mine and over the next 12 hours, despite the efforts of many ships, including HMS Liverpool, she sank. At 20.45 Audacious capsized but continued to float upside down until 21.00 when a series of explosions sent her to the bottom. These explosions sent a piece of armoured plating hurtling through the air to land on HMS Liverpool, killing William Burgess. He was the only casualty of the whole incident as all the crew of HMS Audacious had been saved earlier.