2nd Battalion, The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)
William John Kerr was the eldest son of Captain Russell James and Miriam Matilda Kerr of The Haie, Newnham-on-Severn. He was born in 1890 when his parents were living at Oakley Street, Chelsea. His father was a barrister.
He was educated at Bradfield College before going to Sandhurst from where he was gazetted to the 2nd Battalion, The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) in 1909. Promotion to Lieutenant followed in 1912. In 1911 the battalion was posted to Malta and remained there until it sailed for England on 15 September 1914.
After a few weeks in camp at Hursley Park near Winchester the battalion landed in France on 5 November 1914. By 18 November it had reached La Flinque and on the 21st took over trenches in the Chapigny sector. According to the battalion’s War Diary one man was killed and another, Lieutenant W J Kerr, wounded on 1 February 1915 and died at Boulogne on 10 March, aged 24 years (The Times, 15 March 1915). The Probate Register also states that death was at Boulogne (and also that Administration of the Estate was granted to Russell James Kerr, Captain in the Army).
Most unusually his body was repatriated and laid to rest in the family plot in St Peter’s Churchyard, Newnham, on 18 March 1915. Lieutenant Kerr is commemorated on the War Memorial in the High Street at Newnham.
His younger brother Ralph Kerr CBE was Captain of HMS Hood and died in the action with the Bismarck on 24 May 1941.
Researched by Eric Nicholls, with acknowledgement to the article ‘Heroes Remembered’ by Ray Westlake in Stand To!, the Journal of The Western Front Association (No 64, April 2002)