St Sgt
William Fisher Birkett
Military Details
Service Number: 7591347
Regiment & Unit / Ship
Royal Elec & Mech Engineers
Service Branch
Army
Enlistment Details
Date of Enlistment
1939
Residence at Enlistment
60 High St ., Cleator Moor
Rank at Enlistment
Pts
Service Number at Enlistment
7591347
Service History
Sergt. Birkett, aged 28, had been in the Army since the outbreak of war and was previously employed as a mechanic by the Cumberland Motor Services at Whitehaven. He was in action at Dunkirk, Libya, Sicily and Italy and was attached to Montgomery's 5th Tank Corps. He was educated at Whitehaven Secondary School and Woodhouse Grove, Leeds.
Personal Details
Date of Birth
9th October 1916
Place of Birth
Cleator Moor
Religion
Methodist
Address
60 High Street, Cleator Moor
Residence (Census)
60 High St Cleator Moor
Parents
Dickinson & Margaret
Married
Mary
Children
William born 1945
Education and Occupation
School
Whitehaven County
Occupation
Motor Mechanic
Work Address
Cumberland Motor Services
Death and Memorial
Date of Death
18th April 1945
Age at Death
28
Circumstances of Death
Mrs W.F. Birkett, Hilden Road, Cleator, has received word from the War Office that her husband, Staff Sergt. W.F. Birkett, R.E.M.E., has died of injuries sustained in a battle accident in a forward area on the Western Front on April 18.
Place of Death
Becklingen
Theater of Action
Western Europe
Battalion/Vessel at Death
R.E.M.E.
Rank at Death
Stf Sgt
Notes
His father, Mr D.F. Birkett, was killed in the last war. Sergt. Birkett is survived by his wife and one child and by his widowed mother, Mrs D.F. Birkett, High StBelow is some information about Dick Birkett in WW1:
He was married to Margaret (Maggie) Birkett (nee Greggain) and before the First World War was a baker with the Cleator Moor Co-operative Society. The 11th (Service) Battalion The Border Regiment Battalion (Lonsdale) was one of the "Pals" battalions raised in the early weeks of the 1914 - 1918 by Hugh Lowther, 5th Earl of Lonsdale (the "Yellow Earl").reet, Cleator Moor.
Buried or Commemorated at
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