Source: Michael Doyle Their Name Liveth For Evermore: The Great War Roll of Honour for Leicestershire and Rutland.
He was the son of Arthur Brooks a coal miner, born 1862 in Donington le Heath, Leics., and his wife Sarah, born 1859 in Whitwick, Leics. William was born in 1888 in Whitwick, Leics., his siblings were Charlotte E., born 1887 and John T., born 1891, both his siblings were born in Whitwick, Leics., in April 1891 the family home was at South Street, Whitwick, Leics. In March 1901 William was employed as an errand boy and fruiterer and was residing in the family home at Margaret Street, Coalville, Leicester together with his widowed father, who remarried in 1894, Louisa Brooks (nee Hancock), born 1862 in Ashby de la Zouch, Leics., and his full blood sibling, John T., and his half blood siblings, Arthur Reginald, born 1895, Ernest, born 1896, Florence L., born 1898, Olive E. M., born 1899, the latter four half blood siblings were all born in Thornborough, Leics., and Evelyn M. G., born 1900 in Coalville, Leics. In April 1911 William was employed as a coal miner and was residing in the family home at Coalville Lane, Ravenstone, Leics., together with his father, step mother and full blood sibling, John T., and half blood siblings, Ernest, Olive and Evelyn. His younger half blood sibling Arthur Reginald died of wounds received in action. The War Diary for the 23rd April records that the Battalion relieved the 1st Bn. East Kent Regiment (The Buffs) in Forward Cottage line. The entry made for the 27th April was as follows:- Working party from 9th Bn. Norfolk Regiment worked on our trenches, enemy also at work but not such big parties as night of 25th/26th. 2nd Lt. F. B. Robertson patrolled along Admirals road starting out from B 14 with a view to finding out if sap 9 crossed Admirals road. Enemy were working on saps. No saps crossed the road. Patrol from B 15 came into contact with the enemy covering party near sap 9. Enemy threw one bomb, patrol replied with 4 causing considerable confusion among covering party. Enemy opened rapid rifle fire. Patrol returned safely. Damage not known.

Source: Leicestershire War Memorials Project.
Coalville Times article - Friday January 7th, 1916

COALVILLE MAN’S PATRIOTISM

TRAVELLED 14,000 MILES TO ENLIST

A striking instance of British patriotism is that displayed by Pte. William Brooks, of the 1st Leicesters, who having been seven months in the trenches in France, was recently at Coalville on leave and has just returned to the front. Pte. Brooks is a son of Mr Arthur Brooks, a miner at the Snibston pit, who resides on the Coalville Road, Ravenstone, and from a boy of 14 till he was nearly 23 years of age, also worked in the Snibston mine. But his 23rd birthday was spent on the high seas, he having decided to emigrate to Australia. He had been there about three years – he is now 27 – and was in the bush, in the backwoods of Queensland when war broke out. The call for volunteers, appealed strongly to him and he decided to return home. He was invited to join the Australian contingent, with a payment of 6s per day, but he preferred to return to Leicestershire and join his own county regiment. To do this he had to travel 14,000 miles. The first stage of the journey was a 44 mile tramp to reach the stage coach. In this conveyance he was travelling for a fortnight, then three stages by train of 24 hours, 11 ½ hours and 22 hours brought him to Sydney. Here he joined the R.M.S. Omrah as a trimmer, and after a fortnight took over the duties of stoker. He was 3 ½ months on the water, travelling with the first Australian contingent of soldiers who were coming to assist the motherland in the great war. In this convoy there were 45 ships conveying troops and on the vessel on which Brooks was working, were 44 prisoners from the German “Emden.”

Brooks reached his home at Ravenstone in time to spend the Christmas of 1914 with his parents. Then he went to Wigston Barracks and enlisted in the 1st Leicesters, with whom he went to the front about five months later and has taken part in several engagements.

Pte. Brooks is attached to a bombing party, of which Lieut. Pickbourne (son of the Rev. F. Pickbourne, pastor of the Coalville London Road Baptist Church) has charge, and among a few war trophies which he brought home on a recent visit was a discharged hand grenade of the type which he and his comrades are now engaged in hurling at the enemy.

Coalville Times article - Friday, March 10th, 1916.

"RAVENSTONE SOLDIER’S EXCITING EXPERIENCES

Private Wm. Brooks of the 1st Leicesters, writing to his parents, of Coalville Road, Ravenstone, states that he is now back again with his company after an exciting experience. While he was in the trenches, a shell fell, and blew in a portion of the trench, and he was buried by the debris. He lost his knapsack, and also had his rifle smashed. He was considerably bruised, but is all right again after a few day’s rest. His many friends in the Coalville district will congratulate him on his narrow escape.

Private Brooks was in the backwoods of Australia when war broke out, and travelled nearly 14,000 miles to join the regiment of his native country."

Coalville Times article - Friday, 12th May, 1916

"RAVENSTONE SOLDIER KILLED

TRAVELLED 14,000 MILES TO ENLIST

In a recent issue, we recorded how Private Wm. Brooks, of the Leicestershire Regiment, son of Mr A. Brooks, a Snibston collier, residing at Oak Cottages, Ravenstone, travelled 14,000 miles to enlist in the regiment of his native county, and we very much regret now to report that he has been killed in action.

On Monday morning, Mr and Mrs Brooks, received the sad news in a letter from the War Office, intimating that the deceased soldier was killed in action on April 27th. They had been prepared for this, however, by letters received a few days earlier from the deceased’s officer and comrades. Lieutenant H. Pickbourne, who is the son of the Rev. F. Pickbourne, pastor of the Coalville London Road Baptist Church, writing on April 30th, stated:

“I am sorry to have to write this letter. Your son, Wm. Brooks, was killed by a bullet on the 27th of this month. He was with a few others in charge of an advance post and was shot early on Thursday morning. The whole company miss him, for the men knew him as the best of fellows, and all their letters are full of sympathy. He was in my company, and proved on many occasions most brave and reliable, and I knew that I could trust him to do anything, and go anywhere that was required. Shortly after his death, I was passing down the trench and overheard one of the men say ‘He was one of the best fellows who ever joined the regiment’. That was the opinion of all who knew him. He was buried the same evening near ________, just behind our lines. He has made the greatest sacrifice, but he made it willingly. If there are any enquiries I can answer I shall only be too willing to do so.”

Another letter received was from Corporal Paling, of the same company, also writing on April 30th, who stated:

“Your dear son William passed away from us who loved him on the morning of the 27th about five o’clock. It hurts me very much to have to write this letter, but as it has pleased our Father to take our dear comrade away, we must pray that he will go to his last heavenly rest. Your son was my very best chum, and dearest comrade, one whom I loved very much, and one I knew would stand by my side until death. For the last ten months he had been under me as a bomber, and he was the best bomber and the best man in the regiment. He was a gallant soldier, and has done his best, and died bravely fighting for his King and country. The whole battalion and officers mourn his death, and are all very much upset as he was so much liked in the regiment. If there is anything I can do for you, or anything you should like to know, I shall be only too glad to be at your service. With sympathy and regret from all his comrades.”

The letter was also signed by Lance-Corporal Bentley. The War Office letter was accompanied by one from Lord Kitchener, expressing the sympathy of the King and Queen.

Private Brooks was 27 years of age, and formerly worked at the Snibston Colliery. Four years last September he emigrated to Australia and when war broke out was 14,000 miles from home in the backwoods of Queensland. He started for the coast, travelling many days over rough country, and eventually reached port in time to join the ship Omrah which brought over part of the Australian Force, and also had on board 44 prisoners of the German raider “Emden.” He worked on the ship as a stoker. He had been invited to “join up” in Australia, but preferred to come home and join the regiment of his native country. He reached his home at Ravenstone on Christmas Eve, 1914, and enlisted in the Leicestershire Regiment on New Year’s Day, 1915. On May 3rd of that year, he went to France, thus having been at the Front about twelve months. Just before Christmas, 1915, he had leave, and was at home for a few days, but last Christmas Day found him in the trenches again. He brought home several interesting war trophies, one of which was a hand grenade, of which he was an expert thrower.

A younger brother of the deceased, Arthur Reginald, is serving in the Northumberland Fusiliers. He formerly worked in the Coalville Co-Operative butchery department. "

Coalville Times article - Friday October 29th, 1920

RAVENSTONE WAR MEMORIAL

UNVEILED BY MAJOR HATCHETT, J.P.

IMPRESSIVE SERVICE

Few villages, perhaps in proportion to population, suffered more heavily in the war than Ravenstone, where on Sunday afternoon the unveiling took place of a memorial to 28 men of the parish who made the supreme sacrifice. The memorial consists of a cross of Weldon stone, 12ft high, with steps at the base and three panels in Swithland slate bearing the names of the men, and on the front panel appears the inscription

“In glorious memory of the unreturning brave 1914 – 1918”

The names of the fallen are as follows:

L.-Corporal J. C. Andrews, Pte. H. Walker, Corporal P. L. Smith, Pte. G. T. Andrews, Pte. J. Martin, Pte. W. Brooks, Corporal C. Fairbrother, Pte. J. Nicholls, Gunner A. Prew, Pte. S. Poole, Seaman W. Potter, Corporal J. Sinfield, Pte. C. T. Colver, Corporal J. Curtis, Pte. H. Congrave, Corporal J. Collier, L.-Corporal F. Marlow, Pte. J. Watson, Pte. R. Bodle, Pte. W. Glover, Pte. A. R. Brooks, Pte. G. Yates, Pte. J. Knifton, Pte. W. Hill, Pte. C. H. C. Wilson, Rfn. W. Knight, Sergt. J. Hancock and Pte. A. Fowkes.

The cross was designed by Mr T. H. Fosbrooke, architect, of Leicester, whose brother is the Squire of Ravenstone Hall, and it was executed by Mr J. H. Morcomb, also of Leicester. The cost was about £150, which has been defrayed by public subscription.

The memorial stands in a most eminent position in the picturesque churchyard, by the side of the pathway leading to the main entrance of the church, and the unveiling ceremony by Major Hatchett, J.P., in the autumn sunshine, with a huge concourse of people gathered around, formed a very impressive scene.

THE SERVICE

The proceedings commenced with a service in the quaint old church, which was packed to the doors, many, in fact, being unable to get in. The uplifting strains of the hymn, “O God, our help in ages past,” formed an appropriate commencement, and then followed a form of service, led by the Rector (the Rev. S. Dowling) in which proper Psalms (21 and 121), lessons (Wisdom iii, 1 – 9 and Rev. 21 1 – 7) and prayers were fittingly mingled, each serving to emphasise the leading note of the day. The anthem beautifully rendered by the choir, was taken from the words of the special lesson. “The Souls of the Righteous,” and the sermon was preached by the Rev. J. D. C. Wallace, the Master of Ravenstone Hospital, whose text was Philippians Ic 22v “With Christ, which is far better.” He said that for many centuries in peace and war time that church had stood at Ravenstone, but never before in its history had it seen what stood in its shadow to-day – a beautiful memorial inscribed with the names of nearly 30 Ravenstone boys who gave their lives in the war. Never before was there such a war, and never before was Ravenstone called upon to make such a sacrifice. “We need no monument,” he said, “They are our boys; we know their faces, know their generous dispositions and the fine spirit which sent them forth. All that is enshrined in our memories and nothing can deface it. We need no monument, but there is one outside because there will come after us generations who knew not out boys, and that monument will tell them in years to come what Ravenstone boys did in the hour of England’s peril.”

The memorial, he continued, was a symbol of their faith, of the greatest sacrifice of that Eternal Son of God, Who came from Heaven. It was that supreme sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross that inspired their boys to make their sacrifice upon the altar of patriotism, and it would be acceptable to God. There would be sad thoughts that day, but he asked them to let proud thoughts prevail over the sad ones. They should be proud because they were the parents and friends of such boys – proud because they were not found wanting in the crucial hour, and because a new glory had come to their homes whether it was castle or cottage, the glory of their boys. Then their thoughts should help them to look forward, because the boys had only just passed on before them, called to a nobler work, and presently they would follow them. Let them not also forget the boys who came back. They went to stop the cruel evil and oppression which was threatening the people of this country from abroad. They wanted to ensure a peaceful and happy life for those here at home, believing them to be worthy of it. It was for them to prove that worth during the rest of their lives. If they were to keep up their jealousies and petty grievances the boys would have fought in vain, and there would be no better England. The boys taught them charitableness, unselfishness, and through love to serve one another. Let them take up the task and as they stood around the memorial solemnly pledge themselves before God and their boys that they would fight uncharitableness and selfishness among themselves and try to be more brotherly men and more sisterly women, to stand together for peace and good-will at home as they stood together in awful peril of the war. “That,” he concluded, “is the best tribute we can pay to those gallant boys, and when they see and know that, they will know that they have not died in vain; that we are worthy for whom they did such great things, and they will rest in peace and possess their souls in patience until that glad day when we and they shall meet again in the blessed presence of that one God, the Father and Saviour of us all.”

After the sermon the hymn, “Ten thousand times, ten thousand,” was sung, during which a collection for the memorial fund realised £13/8/3.

THE UNVEILING

A procession was then formed of the choir, clergy, wardens and members of the Memorial Committee, which proceeded to the cross, singing the hymn, “Through the night doubt and sorrow.”

Relatives of the fallen were given a place prominence around the memorial, and the service of dedication, conducted by the Rector, opened with the singing of “When I survey the wondrous Cross.” Having performed the ceremony of unveiling, Major J. Hatchett, J.P., said, “Several years ago, the Rector called a meeting, which appointed a committee to consider and report upon a suitable memorial, to do honour to the memory of the men who died for their country in the great war. The committee were fortunate in having the kind advice and assistance of an eminent architect, who was a native of Ravenstone, and took great interest in the memorial, the result being the placing here of this beautiful monument. The architect’s name is Mr Thomas Fosbrooke, of Leicester, and we have to thank Mr Fosbrooke very much for what he has done. We have today taken part in a solemn service in that venerable church in which so many generations of our fathers have worshipped, and we now are privileged to be assembled here in this acre of sacred ground, the resting place of so many of our beloved dead, for the purpose of discharging the honourable duty of assisting at the dedication of this memorial erected by the people of Ravenstone to the blessed memory of 28 brave men, who loved their country, and gave their lives to save English men, women and children from tyranny and oppression. We all desire to show our unstinted appreciation and our unbounded admiration of the courageous spirit of those fearless men, who, when their country was wantonly attacked, considered it to be a sacred duty to defend it; and this memorial, which has been raised as a tribute of respect, will remind us and those who came after us, our children and our children’s children, of the undaunted courage and the undying fame of those men of Ravenstone who, whilst upholding the honour of the British flag, and sustaining the reputation of the British soldier, sacrificed their lives. We owe an eternal debt of gratitude to the men who went forth in full health and strength, leaving home, comfort, friends and relatives, to take their places in the battle line to fight in the righteous cause of freedom and justice, against the most cruel, vindictive and treacherous foe the world has ever known. Our sincere, straight-forward, unassuming, determined men, were unafraid and undismayed, although they knew that the Angel of Death was hovering over their path. Their loyal and valued services were very helpful to their country in the hour of her need. We had hoped to witness their return to receive a grateful nation’s recognition and thanks, but the inscrutable degree of Providence ordered it otherwise. They faithfully and manfully performed their duty, they died glorious deaths, they died for England, they died for all of us and the places on the field of honour, where they lie in warriors graves, are hallowed and sanctified by a nation’s grief, and watered by a nation’s tears. We deplore their loss; their splendid examples will remain; their glorious memories will endure. We thank God for such men; and if England’s sons maintain the courage, the devotion and the unselfish patriotism displayed by them, we have no fear for the independence of our race, or for the position of our country and empire amongst the nations of the world. We tender our sincere sympathy to their relatives, trusting that God’s blessing will rest upon them and lighten the burden of their bereavement. Ravenstone is proud of the ever-living memories and the noble deeds of her unreturning immortal heroes, who without fear faced the foe and walked into the valley of the shadow of death, to save the lives, the honour and liberties of those they left behind. These brave British soldiers sill live in our hearts and will not be forgotten; their name liveth for ever. We shall always mention with respect and reverence the names inscribed on this memorial stone, which has been raised to protect their memory, and preserve their story, and remain a lasting monument of their glory. Duty impelled them and they never faltered. There was no need for her to call them twice. The end they saw not, nor would have wished it altered. They took the cross, and made the sacrifice. God grant that we may be found worthy of them, in the days that are to be!”

The dedication of the monument was solemnly performed by the Rector and prayers were followed by the singing of the Doxology.

Two buglers then stepped to the front of the memorial and sounded the “Last Post” and whilst this was in progress, there flew up towards the heavens four homing pigeons released from the hands of the Rev. J. D. C. Wallace, beautifully symbolical of carrying the message of that day’s proceedings.

Many beautiful floral tributes were placed on the memorial by relatives and friends of the deceased men.

Research undertaken and submitted (including photograph from the Coalville Times) by Andy Murby 11/10/2017