Briggs, William Hirst

Hull Pals Memorial Post. PRIVATE WILLIAM HIRST BRIGGS 10/218. Born 1897, the second of three children, and only son of William and Blanche Briggs of Newbegin House, Beverley. William was one of the original Pals, enlisting in the early days of September 1914 and a veteran of Egypt, the Somme and Oppy Wood when he was killed in action on 12th April 1918 during the German Spring Offensive. He was also underage. He joined up aged 17 at a time you had to be 19. He truly was a boy in a man’s uniform. Like so many of his comrades that day, his body was never recovered and his name is commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial as well as the St. Mary’s Roll of Honour and the Beverley Grammar School Memorial in the Minster in Beverley. He was 21 years old.