Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Corporal W. Billings, 15th (1st Edinburgh Pals’) Battalion, Royal Scots, who was killed in action on the first day of the Battle of the Somme on 1 July 1916, on which date the Battalion suffered total casualties of over 600, with the links to Edinburgh being almost completely wiped out

British War and Victory Medals (17833 Cpl. W. Billings. R. Scots.) nearly extremely fine (2) £180-£220

William Billings attested for the Royal Scots and served with the 15th (1st Edinburgh Pals’) Battalion during the Great War on the Western Front from 1916. He was killed in action on the first day of the Battle of the Somme on 1 July 1916, on which date the Battalion was involved in an attack on La Boisselle. Leaving the trenches at zero hour ‘with great heart and in grand form’, heavy casualties were sustained from enemy machine-gun posts, and by the time the Battalion was relieved they had suffered total casualties of 628, with the links to Edinburgh being almost completely wiped out. Billings has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, France.