William Barry Nelson

NELSON, WILLIAM BARRY

• Rank: Private
• Service No: 14387
• Date of Death: 11/08/1916
• Age: 22
• Regiment/Service: Durham Light Infantry 14th Bn.
• Grave Reference: Plot 1. Row B. Grave 8.
• Cemetery: ACHEUX BRITISH CEMETERY
• Additional Information: Son of Henry Nelson, of 10, Back Adelaide Row, Seaham Harbour and the late Alice.
• CWGC

Shot at dawn August 11, 1916

Billy was executed after 11 months in the trenches, days after being wounded in the Battle of Loos.

His "crime" was to miss his unit going over the top because he was having his first meal for days, with permission, in another part of the battlefield.

He had absconded three times before - but only at times of family crisis which included the death of his mother leaving his 13-year-old sister to look after a younger brother.

His father, also a soldier, had recently been captured.

Billy's trial lasted only five minutes. With no-one to represent him, he said:

"I have had a lot of trouble at home and my nerves are badly upset. My father is a prisoner in Germany and is losing his eyesight there through bad treatment.
My mother died while I was still in England, leaving my sister aged 13 and my brother aged 10. I am the only one left. I had to leave them in the charge of a neighbour. I had no intention of deserting."