Private William Frederick Horsam
2nd Battalion, Devonshire Regiment
Killed in Action
Date of Birth: 1871
Place of Birth: Teignmouth, Devon
Date of Death: 18 December 1914 aged 42
Buried: Remembered on the Teignmouth War Memorial and St James' Church Memorial Window. He is also commemorated at Le Touret Memorial, Pas de Calais, France.
Awarded the1914 Star, The British War Medal and the Victory Medal
In 1871 William Frederick Horsam was born in Teignmouth, Devon. His family had worked the land around Teignmouth for generations.
William's father, William Henry Horsham, an agricultural labourer, was born on July 17, 1846 in Combeinteignhead, Devon. William's mother Emily Hosgood, was born in 1847 in Crediton, Devon. By the time she was aged 14 Emily was working as a house servant in Regent Street, Teignmouth.
William's parents married in 1868 and William was born in 1871. His father died aged 35. A few years later William's mother became the wife of Harry Atkinson. The 1881 census showed him with his mother and step father and step brother at 27 Saxe Street, Teignmouth.
In 1897 William married Elizabeth Ellen Langabeer in Newton Abbot, Devon. Elizabeth was born in 1872 in Thorverton, Devon. William and Elizabeth had seven children.
In the 1901 census he was with his widowed mother Emily Atkinson at 11 Mulberry Street and registered as a general labourer.
22 Willow Street Teignmouth.
1911 census showed him living with his wife Elizabeth Ellen and five of his children at Middle Street, Shaldon and working as a farm labourer. One of his children had died.
His widow later lived at 22 Willow Street, Teignmouth.
Records dating back to 1610 show William's direct ancestors all spelt Horsham spelt with an "H" in the centre. From when William's father died the spelling of the name Horsham changed to be Horsam.
William enlisted at Exeter with 2nd Battalion, Devonshire Regiment, service number S/7325. Presumably he was previously part of the Devon Territorials because he was killed in action on 18 December 1914.
He is remembered on the Le Touret Memorial in France; the Teignmouth Seafront Memorial and St. James' Church Memorial Window, Teignmouth.
The 2nd Battalion of the The Devonshire Regiment
Devonshire Regiment
cap badge
In August 1914 his battalion were in Cairo, Egypt to protect the Suez Canal.
On the 1 October 1914 they returned to England where reservists added to their numbers.
They landed at Le Havre, France on 6 November 1914 as part of the 23rd Brigade in the 8th Division.
British soldiers arrive in Le Havre, France. © IWM (Q 51472)
Le Havre is a port in France which during the First World War was used as a base for storage and as a transport hub .
1.9 million British soldiers passed through Le Havre en route to the Western Front which was further North.
The 2nd Devons then marched to the Front.
By Earnest Brookes. National Library of Scotland License: CC BY 4.0
By mid-November 1914 they were at Messines where they served in the trenches near Neuve Chapelle.
They had 20 casualties and lost another 70 men to sickness (mostly frostbite).
“Four inches of snow on the ground and snowing up to the 22nd (November) it was nearly impossible to sleep with only one blanket.
Barn we occupied last week blown up by shell fire. Had over nine hundred sick and wounded in a week.
The men having come straight from India &c (Cairo, Eygpt) went right into the trenches, owing to the shortage of troops, the snow and intense cold was playing havoc with them, and the bulk of the frost bite cases were quite helpless with swollen feet and had to be evacuated”.
War Diary of Albert House
Sergeant-Major of the 24th Field Ambulance
Soldiers leaving a sap trench © IWM (Q 5100)
William Frederick Horsam of Teignmouth died on the 18th of December 1914.
His wife became a widow with five children to support throughout wartime and beyond.
