RAY William Frederick

Appears in the Worcester/Worcestershire Roll of Honour Book for army casualties located in Worcester Cathedral.

William Ray lived at 7 Talbot Street, Stourbridge and he attended St. John’s School. He enlisted in the Warwicks and joined the 16th (Birmingham) Battalion in the 5th Division. They were involved in some fierce actions during the 1918 German Spring offensives which drove the British Army into a series of retreats. After a period of rest and re-training the Warwicks returned to the front line during the Advance to Victory. They fought their way forward without a break from the 21st August across the old Somme battlefield to the end of September when they neared the Hindenburg Line at St. Quentin. The breaking of the German Line at St Quentin on the 28th – 29th September was one of the greatest successes of the British army but Private William Ray was seriously wounded near Gouzeaucourt on the 28th September and died the next day. He was 19 years of age. He is also commemorated on St. Thomas’s church memorial.