Censuses
1911 Census (Aston, ref 098)
Name William Higgs
Address: 10 Malvern Terrace Henley Street, Camp Hill, Birmingham
Age: 14
Born 1897, Little London, Bucks
Occupation Odd jobs
Other people on census
Father (Head): Alfred Higgs (34, Married, Labourer – Metal refiner, born 1877, Oakley, Bucks)
Mother: Rose Higgs (34, Married 11 years, 6 children, born 1877, Brill, Bucks)
Brothers: Lidney (Sidney) Higgs (8, born 1903,
Thomas Higgs (4, born 1907, Birmingham, Warwickshire)
Frank Higgs (2, born 1909, Birmingham, Warwickshire)
Sisters: Florrence (Florence) Higgs (10, born 1901, Birmingham, Warwickshire)
Rose Higgs (1 month, born 1911, Birmingham, Warwickshire)
1901 Census (Deritend, Aston, Birmingham, ref 076 )
Name William Higgs
Address: 62 Main Street, Deritend, Aston, Birmingham
Building 3 Bh
Age: 4
Born 1897, Brill, Bucks
Other people on census
Father (Head): Alfred Higgs (24, Married, General labourer, born 1877, Oakley, Bucks)
Mother: Rose Higgs (24, Married, born 1877, born Thame, Oxon)
Sister: Florence Higgs (9 months, born 1900, born Birmingham, Warwickshire)
Soldiers Died in the Great War, 1914-1919
First Names: William
Surname: Higgs
Birth town: Oakley, Buckinghamshire
Resided town Birmingham
Nationality: British
Date of death: 8th August 1916
Death Place France and Flanders
Theatre of War Western European Theatre
Fate: Killed In Action
Rank: Private
Regiment Royal Warwickshire Regiment
Battalion 2nd / 5th Battalion
Enlistment Place Birmingham
Service Number: 2074
Age 19
Cemetery Loos Memorial
Panel Reference Panels 22 to 25
Relatives notified Son of Alfred Thomas and Rose Elizabeth Higgs, of 4/27, Priestley Rd., Sparkbrook, Birmingham
Private William Henry HIGGS
Personal information
Known as William Henry Higgs
Born: 4th November 1896, Oakley
Baptised: 1st January 1897, Oakley Church (as William Gubbins)
Rank Private
Married: Unmarried
Died: 8th August 1916
Cause of Death Killed in action
Age at death 19
Buried Unknown, memorial in Loos, France
Family
Father: Alfred Thomas Higgs (born, 1874, Oakley, Bucks; bapt. 4th June 1876, Oakley Church, married 14 May 1899. to Rose Elizabeth Gubbins in Sparkbrook, Christ Church, Warwickshire; died 23rd Nov 1929, 54, Birmingham)
Mother: Rose Elizabeth Higgs nee Gubbins (born 1877, Brill, Bucks, married 14 May 1899. in Sparkbrook, Christ Church, Warwickshire; died 1963, age 83, Birmingham)
Brothers (3) Sidney Higgs (born 17th Sep 1902, Deritend, Birmingham)
Thomas Higgs (born 1906, Birmingham; Warwickshire)
Frank Higgs (born 1908, Birmingham; Warwickshire)
Sisters (4) Florence Higgs (born 1901, Birmingham, Warwickshire)
Evelyn Higgs (born 1910, Birmingham, Warwickshire)
Rose Higgs (born 1911, Birmingham, Warwickshire)
Dorothy Louisa Higgs (born 22 Oct 1912, Birmingham, Warwickshire)
Uncle Harry Higgs (born 24th April 1894, Little London, Bucks; bapt. 15th Oct 1894, Oakley Church; died 10th February 1916, aged 22, Loos, France)
Paternal Grandfather: (Edwin) John Higgs (born 1850, Oakley, Bucks; baptised 29th Sept 1850, Oakley Church; married 28th Nov 1875, Oakley Church; died July 1918, aged 68 Cowleys, buried 2nd August 1918, Oakley Church)
Paternal Grandmother: Laura Higgs nee Watts (born 1856, Wardington, Oxon; baptised 26th Oct 1856, Wardington, Oxon; married 28th Nov 1875, Oakley Church; died Jan 1925, aged 68 Cowleys, Oakley; buried 17th Jan 1925, Oakley)
Maternal Grandfather: Norman H Gubbins (born Jan 1856, Brill, Bucks; died March 1928, age 72 Garsington, Oxon; buried 31st March 1928, Garsington , Oxon)
Maternal Grandmother: Ann Gubbins nee unknown (born, 1851 Cuddesdon, Oxon)
Medals
Victory Medal L/104 B16 Page 3443
British Medal L/104 B16 Page 3443
Territory Force War Medal T.F.WAR. R.WAR.R TFMI/8 – Page 18
UK Army Registery of Soldiers’ Effects (ref 324558)
Credit £3 19s 9d Allocated on 4/12/1916 to Father Alfred T £3 19s 9d
Credit £8 10s 0d Allocated on 11/09/1919 to Father Alfred T £8 10s 0d
Memorials/notes etc.
Oakley War Memorial.
Memorial: LOOS Memorial
Panels 22 to 25.
Military background
BRITISH ARMY
Service number 2074
Regiment during World War 1
Royal Warwickshire Regiment
5th and 2/8th Battalion Territorial Force
Oct 1914 Formed at Birmingham as part of the 2/1st Warwickshire Brigade of the 2/1st South Midland Division and then moved to Chelmsford
Aug 1915 Formation became the 182nd Brigade if the 61st Division and moved to Salisbury Plain.
21.05.1916 Mobilised for war and landed France were the formation became the 143rd Brigade of the 48th Division and engaged in various actions on the Western Front
During 1916 The Attack at Fromelles.
During 1917 The Operations on the Ancre, The German Retreat to the Hindenburg Line, The Battle of Langemarck, The German counter attacks.
20.02.1918 Disbanded in France and personnel transferred to the 2/6th Battalion and 24th Entrenching Battalion
From Royal Warwickshire Regiment –( 61st Division ) War diaries
1/8/1916 Battalion took over MOATED GRANGE subsection form 2/5 Gloucesters. Relief complete 5:40 p.m.
2/8/1916 Quiet day in trenches
3/8/1916 Quiet day in trenches. G.O.C. 61st Division visited trenches about 10 a.m.
4/8/1916 Quiet day in trenches
5/8/1916 Quiet day in trenches. Some artillery activities
6/8/1916 Quiet day in trenches Some artillery activities
7/8/1916 Quiet day in trenches
8/8/1916 Enemy sprang a mine under our parapet at M.30 C 1 ½ 4, T attacked with a small body of infantry. This was repulsed and identifications taken from German dead.
1,286 British and Empire deaths on 08/08/1916.; 38 men of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment; 15 of which commemorated on the Loos Memorial (all on Panels 22 to 25)
9/8/1916 Battalion relieved by 2/8 WARWICKS and proceeded to billets in RIEL BAILLEUL, relief complete by 5p.m.
Cemetery / Memorial
Loos Memorial, Loos-en-Gohelle, Departement du Pas-de-Calais, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France
Identified Casualties: 20616
Location Information
The Loos Memorial forms the sides and back of Dud Corner Cemetery. Loos-en-Gohelle is a village 5 kilometres north-west of Lens, and Dud Corner Cemetery is located about 1 kilometre west of the village, to the north-east of the D943, the main Lens to Bethune road.
Historical Information
Dud Corner Cemetery stands almost on the site of a German strong point, the Lens Road Redoubt, captured by the 15th (Scottish) Division on the first day of the battle.
The name “Dud Corner” is believed to be due to the large number of unexploded enemy shells found in the neighbourhood after the Armistice.
The Loos Memorial commemorates over 20,000 officers and men who have no known grave, who fell in the area from the River Lys to the old southern boundary of the First Army, east and west of Grenay, from the first day of the Battle of Loos to the end of the war. On either side of the cemetery is a wall 15 feet high, to which are fixed tablets on which are carved the names of those commemorated. At the back are four small circular courts, open to the sky, in which the lines of tablets are continued, and between these courts are three semi-circular walls or apses, two of which carry tablets, while on the centre apse is erected the Cross of Sacrifice.
The memorial was designed by Sir Herbert Baker with sculpture by Charles Wheeler. It was unveiled by Sir Nevil Macready on 4 August 1930.