Died in action aged 19
Buried at Regina Trench Cemetery, Grandcourt at Plot 1V C 28
William Arthur Derrick [known as Derrick] was born in Dublin, the only son of Lt. Col. W. G. Eley, D.S.O., and Helen Eley, of Whiteshoots Hill, Bourton-on-the Water, Glos. The family were native to Escrick, Yorkshire and were living there at the time of the 1901 and 1911 censuses.
Derrick left Eton in the summer of 1916 and joined the King’s Royal Rifle Corps as a 2nd Lieutenant.
The following email was sent by Berkeley Vincent to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission on the 20 February 2009:
"My late cousin, 2nd Lieut. W.A.D. ELEY lies buried at Regina Trench Cemetery; His life was cut down on 17/2/1917 aged 19. He was his parents' only son - they never had another - and his sisters died without having children, so that now he can only be remembered and grieved for by cousins.”
The Papers of the Forbes Adam/Thompson/Lawley [Barons Wenlock] Family of Escrick deposited at the University of Hull contain two letters from him, concerning War Service in France 1916-17 Ref: DDFA3/6/38