Shirtliff, William

BORN HULL 1899. SON OF HASTINGS AND FANNY SHIRTLIFF. BROTHER HAROLD SHIRTLIFF, RGA LIVED AT SAME ADDRESS. (1918 ABSENT VOTERS). Billy was killed in the Battle of Lys near the Pont de Nieppe. He is commemorated on the PLOEGSTEERT MEMORIAL at Hainaut, Belgium. This commemorates more than 11,000 servicemen of the UK and South African forces who died in this sector during the First World War and have no known grave. Message from Peter Thane, regarding William Shirtliff above received 27/5/2015. (Peter Thane info@dcatonline.co.uk) “My Mother, six other members of our family and me visited Belgium earlier this month partly to travel to some of the places where our maternal Grandfather had fought (around Ypres) and also to and pay our respects to Billy at the Ploegsteert Memorial. We only found out what had happened to Billy a few years ago and it is sad that his Mother and Sister (my
Grandmother) never knew what happened to him and all they ever knew that he was missing presumed dead. To add insult to injury, when they received his war medals his surname had been misspelt as Shortliff!”