William Blencowe Howie

1890-1971

Father Nm: William Howie, b. 1864, Kilmaurs, Ayrshire d. 30 Apr 1928, Bedfordshire
Mother Nm: Jane Blencowe, b. 19 Nov 1862, Evesham, Worcestershire d. May 1948, Eastern Cheshire

Marriage Dt: 17 June1920, Withington, St Paul, Lancashire.

K comments: Brother John Cunningham Howie served in WW1
Spouse comments: May Hewitt,   b. 1896, Valencia, Venezuela d. Q1 1931, Manchester South

Children.

1. Joyce May Howie, b. 9 May 1923, Chorlton, Lancashire
2. Lillian E Howie, b. 26 Oct 1926, Manchester South
3. Margaret J Howie, b. 1922, Chorlton, Lancashire

Born 1890

24 Dec 1890 Ayrshire, Scotland

1891 Census

5 Apr 1891 11, Boyle Street, Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland
William Howie Head Married Male 27 1864 Draper & clothier Kilmaurs, Ayrshire, Scotland
Jennie Howie Wife Married Female 28 1863 – England
William Howie Son – Male 0 1891 – Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland

1901 Census

31 Mar 1901 17, Lawrence Street, Govan, Partick, Lanarkshire, Scotland
William Howie Head Married Male 37 1864 Commercial traveller woollen worker Kilmaurs, Ayrshire, Scotland
Jane Howie Wife Married Female 37 1864 – England
William Howie Jr Son Single Male 10 1891 Scholar Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland
Margaret E Howie Daughter Single Female 8 1893 Scholar Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland
John C Howie Son Single Male 4 1897 – Partick, Lanarkshire, Scotland
Mary Ann Thompson Servant Single Female 15 1886 General servant domestic Portsoy, Banffshire, Scotland

WW1

William B Howie Private 4148, 25176 1/6th Bn Manchester Regiment, 127th Bridgade, 42nd Division

1915

• Enlisted. Between 4 November and 3 December. The https://armyservicenumbers.blogspot.com/ website of Paul Nixon gives these dates for the Manchester 6th Bn.  4109 joined on 4th November 1915 and 4361 joined on 3rd December 1915

Note: William joined this Regiment as it suffered a devasting defeat in Galipolli and would have expected to join them there but they returned in 1916 and it was a year before they regrouped in Egypt and embarked for the western front.

William then was likely to have joined the 1/6th Battalion Manchesters in Egypt in 1916 and also his brother John served in the 1/7th Battalion.

1916

• Transported to Alexandria Egypt in 1916.
• Suez Canal Defences for the whole of 1916, rebuilding its strength and taking part in the Battle of Romani (4–5 August).

1917

• 2 March. 1/6 Bn Manchesters landed in Marseilles and proceeded to the Western Front.
• June. Havrincourt Wood. In operations around Havrincourt Wood. They were in the line at Havrincourt Wood at the start of the month, then moved to Ruyaulcourt on June 5th. They returned to Havrincourt Wood from June 12-16, and after a brief period of training were in operations around Havrincourt Wood. They were in the line at Havrincourt Wood at the start of the month, then moved to Ruyaulcourt on June 5th. They returned to Havrincourt Wood from June 12-16, and after a brief period of training at Ytres, they went back to the reserve line at Havrincourt Wood on June 21st, they went back to the reserve line at Havrincourt Wood on June 21st. ⁴ A total of 12 Casualties for the month.
• 28 -31 July. On July 28, 1917, the 1/6th Battalion of the Manchester Regiment was positioned at Ephey on the Western Front. They were involved in front-line duties before moving to Havrincourt and then being withdrawn to Albert for rest and training during July and August ⁴
• The 42nd Division moved to the Ypres sector in Belgium the 1/6th Bn entrained from Aveluy and detrained at Hopoutre sw of Poperinge. On 6 September 1917, during the Third Battle of Ypres, the 42nd (East Lancashire) Division, which included the 1/6th Battalion of the Manchester Regiment, was involved in an attack near Hill 35. This operation was part of the larger Battle of the Menin Road Ridge1. The division conducted practice barrages and a daylight reconnaissance, advancing close to German positions at Beck House
• September. From the Hopoutre Railway station, the 1/6th Battalion moved through Ypres to the vicinity of Frezenberg on the front line
• During this period and leading up to the battle of Passchendaele the first clashes with the enemy around the Beech location (Map 28NE ) resulted in 35 casualties, mostly on the days 4-6 September.
• 24/25 September. The 1/6th Bn were withdrawn from the front and sent north to East of Nieuport on the Belgium Coast.
• November-December. In these months clashes with the enemy on the Coxyde line resulted in 10 casualties in the Nieuport sector.

1918

From Wikipedia article.

In 1918 the 42nd Division became part of the IV Corps in the Third Army, in which it remained for the rest of the war.

• 24–25 March. The German Spring Offensive. The Battle of Bapaume and the 1st Battle of Arras. The 1/6th Bn. defending a line at Achiet le Grande and Bihicourt took a lot of casualties under German attack and subsequently, retreated first to Bucquoy on the 28th March and then further to Foncquevillers by the 30 March. The records show 66 casualties in this battle and retreat.⁶
• April-May The Battle of Ancre. On the 1st April the battalion retreated further to Louvencourt, but by 23 April were more forward at Coigneuax. Further losses at this point continued and the total losses for April-May was 18 men killed.⁶
• 21-23 August. The Battle of Albert. The 1/6th at the Serre trench system near Puisieux au Mont engaged with the enemy and suffered 24 casualties
• 31 August–3 September. The Second Battle of Bapaume. The 1/6th Bn was positioned at Villiers sur Flos and engaged the enemy suffering 32 casualties mostly on the 2nd of September.
• 6 September. Third Battle of Ypres, the 42nd (East Lancashire) Division, which included the 1/6th Battalion of the Manchester Regiment, was involved in an attack near Hill 35. This operation was part of the larger Battle of the Menin Road Ridge1. The division conducted practice barrages and a daylight reconnaissance, advancing close to German positions at Beck House
• 
• 27 September. The 1/6th battalion moved to Havrincourt Wood to ready for the attack..
• In the Battle of Canal Nord, the 127th Brigade’s attack on the Hindenberg Line was completely successful. Casualties for the attack were 37.⁶

From Wikipedia

Third Army’s advance in Picardy culminated in the Battle of the Selle on 20 October.126th Brigade led the division’s attack over footbridges laid by the engineers over the River Selle. 1/5th and 1/6th Manchesters of 127th Brigade then followed up to an intermediate objective. The division then had to wheel right and was held up. But in the afternoon the attack was resumed and 127th Brigade pushed on to the final objective, which 1/6th Manchesters took after dark without much difficulty..

After the Selle, the 42nd Division was withdrawn into reserve and halted around Beauvois-en-Cambrésis from 24 October until the advance was resumed on 3 November.

The map shows 1/6 Bn movements in 1917-18 and the last stages as it advanced to almost Mauberge. On 7 November the 42nd Division captured Hautmont and the high ground to its west. By 10 November the most forward troops of the 42nd Division were on the Maubeuge–Avesnes-sur-Helpe road. This was the end of the fighting because the Armistice with Germany came into effect the following day. In December the division moved into quarters in the Charleroi area and by mid-March 1919 most of its troops had gone home for demobilisation.

• 10 November. William became sick with influenza (a killer in 1918) and was admitted to No 3 Casualty Clearing Station at Solesmes, France. states 42 days of treatment and then transported to a hospital for further treatment.

1919

• Jan-March. Discharged

Medals

Sources

1. 1. Find My Past  and BFA database
   2. Familysearch.com
   3. https://armyservicenumbers.blogspot.com/
   4. Bing Copilot for resource locations
   5. Geoffs WW1 Search Engine  at https://www.hut-six.co.uk

After the War

1921 census

7, Park Avenue, South Manchester, Lancashire

William Blencowe Howie Head Male 1891 30 Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland Tailor Employer
May Hewitt Wife Female 1896 25 Valencia, Venezuela

1939 Census

William is Widowed and his mother Jane has returned from USA and living with him and his three children

23 Hulme Hall Crescent, Cheadle Hulme, Cheshire

William B (W) Howie 24 Dec 1890 Male Master Tailor Cutter Widowed 252 1 Joyce M (J) Howie 09 May 1923 Female Unpaid Domestic Duties Single 252 2 Lillian E (L) Brock (Howie) 25 Oct 1926 Female At School Single 252 3The record for this person is officially closed. Jane B (J) Howie 19 Nov 1862 Female Unpaid Domestic Duties Married

Death 1957

details

Gallery

There are service records in the National archives for this person they can be viewed and downloaded from their website https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/

This map[ shows that in March 1918 the 1/6th was sitting relatively in the rear of the Allied front and although they took casualties in their retreat further back to Louvencourt they were relatively lucky not to have been in the front line in this German offensive