Researching and sharing the life stories of Amiens
Lives of the First World War is an online platform to discover, remember and share stories of more than 7.6 million men and women who contributed to the British war effort in the First World War. As we mark the centenary of the Battle of Amiens, we need your help to piece together the life stories of people who experienced the battle - such as British soldier William Arthur Gillman, who shared his memories with IWM in 1986. could provide clues, such as letters, diaries, or medals? Note down names, addresses, dates and any military information such as regiments and numbers.
Your First World War connection could also be someone who came from your local area. Many people choose a name from a local war memorial or search for someone who shares their name.
Use the Search box on Lives of the First World War, by entering the surname or service number/unit e.g. “Gillman, London Regiment” - once you have found the Life Story page of the person that you are looking for, you can start to research more details about their experiences.
Using the data sets available on Lives of the First World War, we can piece together additional information about William’s life.
Evidence about a person with a life story can often be found in several records, including in military records, and birth, marriage, death and census records.
William was born in Leytonstone, Essex in 1899 to Thomas and Julia Gillman. Before joining the army in 1917, he worked as a bread baker, a delivery boy for a wine merchant and later, in an engine repair shop. His testimony provides a fascinating insight into life in Britain during the war – from attacks on German shops, to Zeppelin raids.
William was conscripted into the army upon his 18th birthday, and undertook training in the UK before embarking for France in early 1918. When William arrived on the Western Front, victory still seemed out of sight for the Allies after suffering heavy casualties and losing land after the German Spring Offensive. However, the Battle of Amiens improved this outlook and boosted Allied morale significantly. William recalled going into action on August 8, 1918:
“You couldn’t hear yourself speak and shells were exploding all round you and there was smoke and shouting and hollering and all this kind of thing, you know … You just knew that you’d got to get on and you were making advances, instead of sitting on your backside in the trench, you know, waiting for something to happen. There was a certain amount of excitement in this that removed fear. We cleared the lot in front of us. You would get machine-gun posts that could hold you up for perhaps an hour or two. And you got to hand it to them that they put up a resistance and a line there that was very, very difficult. And I think our people realised it. It took all that we’d got and that they produced to shift it. Which we did, eventually. Because from then on it was advance. From then on it was always advance.”
One hundred days later on November 11, 1918, the Armistice was signed. William remembered that:
“We had heard rumours for a couple of days that we’d really got Jerry on the run … this didn’t really come as a surprise and actually there wasn’t a cheer of any kind raised when [the announcement] was read out.”
He remained in service until his demobilisation in 1920 and return to London, where he married and became active in local politics. William lived until 1990.
It would be wonderful if, through Lives of the First World War, the missing pieces of William’s story can be found, shared and saved for future generations – do you have a photograph of him to upload to our site? Do you have a letter or diary to scan and upload? Help us to uncover the stories of thousands of men like William on Lives of the First World War.
Read more of William’s lifestory at https://livesofthefirstworldwar.org/ lifestory/1350741