The popular image of the young men who lied about their age and went off to fight in the Great War is a powerful one, more so when they died before they reached the official age of enlistment.
Historians will tell you that the number was not that large but it happened and William Bates was one of them.
He was just 17 when he died on the Western Front in the August of 1916, and we have David Harrop and some of his friends to thank for bringing Mr Bates out of the shadows.
David recently bought one of the medals awarded to William Bates who served in the Manchester’s and lived on Great Egerton Street in Stockport.
And that began a search for the young man’s story which David and his friends have pieced together.
David then created a facebook page dedicated to the memory of this young soldier and over the course of the next few weeks with David’s help I will tell that story.
Location; Stockport, Manchester and the Western Front
Picture; medal of William Bates, courtesy of David Harrop
*The William BATES in Memorium PAGE compiled by David Harrop Oct 2016
He was just 17 when he died on the Western Front in the August of 1916, and we have David Harrop and some of his friends to thank for bringing Mr Bates out of the shadows.
David recently bought one of the medals awarded to William Bates who served in the Manchester’s and lived on Great Egerton Street in Stockport.
And that began a search for the young man’s story which David and his friends have pieced together.
David then created a facebook page dedicated to the memory of this young soldier and over the course of the next few weeks with David’s help I will tell that story.
Location; Stockport, Manchester and the Western Front
Picture; medal of William Bates, courtesy of David Harrop
*The William BATES in Memorium PAGE compiled by David Harrop Oct 2016
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