THE REPATRIATION OF THE SICK AND WOUNDED - The Tragic Case of Private 7822 Arthur Williams

Private Arthur Williams had already been a career soldier,serving with the Royal Munster Fusilliers between 1904-7, which included two years on Gibraltar. His service also included signing for an additional 9 years in Reserve. Meanwhile his family were to relocate from Wolverhampton to Ellesmere Port following the move made by the Wolverhampton Iron Works. At the start of the war both Arthur and his father were working there, but as a Reservist Arthur was mobilised immediately and was in France within days fighting in the first engagement of the war, The Battle of the Mons. He took part in the legendary rear guard action where just three companies of Royal Munster Fusilliers held their ground against the full might of the German Army, allowing the bulk of the British Army (the B.E.F.) to retreat safely. The battalion was decimated, but Arthur's fate was to take a tragic turn.

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