Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Second Lieutenant W. F. Scott, 8th Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry, who was killed in action on the Western Front on the First Day of the Battle of the Somme, 1 July 1916, on which date the Battalion suffered over 50% losses

1914-15 Star (2. Lieut. W. F. Scott Som. L.I.); British War Medal 1914-20 (2. Lieut. W. F. Scott); Victory Medal 1914-19, naming erased; Memorial Plaque (William Francis Scott) toned, extremely fine (4) £300-£400

William Francis Scott attested for the 9th (County of London) Battalion (Queen Victoria’s Rifles), London Regiment, on 16 November 1914, and was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the Somerset Light Infantry on 24 June 1915. He served with the 8th Battalion during the Great War on the Western Front from Christmas Day 1915, and was killed in action on the first day of the Battle of the Somme on 1 July 1916. On this day the Battalion, as part of the 63rd Brigade, 21st Division, was involved in the attack on Lozenge Alley. The Battalion War diary gives the following account:

‘7.30 a.m. was Zero time for the assault. At 7.25 a.m. the first waves of “B” and “C” Companies crawled out. Directly the artillery barrage lifted our men advance in quick time. They were met by very heavy machine gun fire and although Officers and men were being hit and falling everywhere the advance went steadily on and was reported by the Brigade Major who witnessed it to have been magnificent. The leading platoon lost quite 50% going across “no man’s land”. On arrival near the enemy’s front line they were momentarily held up by a machine gun but as the successive supporting lines came up they soon got in. Already the enemy opened an artillery barrage on “no man’s land” and our front line trench, which caused heavy casualties among the supports. The only enemy found alive in his front line were a few machine gunners, who were immediately killed. Our men worked their way down the German communication trenches, bombing dugouts which contained Germans then on to. When the trenches had been battered out of all recognition and consisted of a mass of craters. They were supported by one Stokes gun but the officers in charge of the team were soon knocked out. Then a Lewis gun team of ours got up and lent considerable help, enabling our men to make further advances.’

Scott was amongst those killed, and he is buried at Gordon Dump Cemetery, Ovillers-la-Bosielle, France.

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