L/Corp W Briggs (1880 – 1918)

William Briggs was born in Bridgnorth, the son of Timothy, a police constable, and Sarah Ann his wife. He was the brother of Sergeant Sidney Briggs.

William became a solicitor’s clerk working in Stourbridge and, later, in Bridgnorth. He married Florence Turner in the first quarter of 1918.

William enlisted in about October 1914. It is just possible that he served througout the war with the 1/4th King’s Shropshire Light Infantry but it is more likely that he initially served with another unit. The 1/4th sailed from England on 28th October, 1914 and spent the first few years of the war in the Far East, returning to Europe to fight on the Western Front in July 1917. L/Corp Briggs appears to have been taken prisoner by the Germans. He died of wounds on 26th May, 1918 at Lagensalza and is now buried in Niederzwehren Cemetery, Hessen, Germany.

L/Corp Briggs, 200710, was awarded the Victory and British Medals. His death was reported in the Bridgnorth Journal on 10 August, 1918.

[BMDs] DIED
[Bridgnorth Journal, Saturday 3rd August, 1918]
BRIGGS. – Died from wounds while a prisoner of war in Germany, 200710 Lance-corporal William Briggs of Chetton, near Bridgnorth, (late of 7 Salop Street, Bridgnorth).

[Revised 26/03/2016]