Sergeant Willie Glasgow
5539 1st East Lancashire Regiment
90309 752nd Labour Corps
Lived at 16 Whittlefield Street
Burnley Express 14/4/1915 - 1/1/1916

5539 Corporal William Glasgow, 1st East Lancashire Regiment (Special Reserve), born Rawtenstall on the 28th August 1892, height 5ft 4ins, weight 133 lbs, fresh complexion, brown eyes and brown hair, resided at 7 Whittlefield Street, Burnley, only son of Mr William & Mrs Lily Glasgow, before the War Billy was a Cotton Weaver at Messrs Simpsons Mill, Trafalgar, Burnley, but work was slack so he enlisted into the Special Reserve (3rd East Lancashire Regiment) on the 3rd February 1914 , on the 28th to the 29th March 1914, he lost two days pay for absence, after 4 months his training was completed and on the 4th August he was appointed Lance Corporal.
When War broke out he was still at camp, his training was completed and he was drafted to the front with the 1st East Lancashire Regiment, landing in France & Flanders on the 17th December 1914 and being promoted to Corporal.
Billy was wounded in the right hand on the 27th March 1915 and went to the First Scottish General Hospital, Aberdeen.

WOUNDED IN “PLUG-STREET”
BURNLEY CORPORAL HIT WHILST
SNIPING
(Burnley Express 14/04/15)

Corporal William Glasgow, of the 1st East Lancashire Regiment, is expecting to visit his mother shortly, after recovering from a bullet wound in the right hand. The Corporal, who is aged 22 years, is the only son of Mrs Glasgow, of Whittlefield Street, Burnley and he formally worked at Messrs Simpsons Mill on Trafalgar. Work being slack, he enlisted before the war broke out in the Special Reserve and was at his first camp at the time hostilities commenced. The Corporal was engaged at Le Gheer, and was busy sniping through a loop hole in the trench called “Plug-Street” on March 27th, when he was sniped himself, a bullet striking him on the right hand. He has been in the First Scottish General Hospital, Aberdeen and thanks to the good treatment he has received there, he is almost well again. His mother on Monday received a letter to say he is doing very nicely, and the Corporal expresses his thanks to the doctors and nurses at the Aberdeen hospital for their kind treatment.

(The 1st East Lancashire Regiment were in trenches at Le Gheer on the 27th March 1915 and the War Diaries reported;
All quiet . 5th Lincoln Regiment attached for instruction. 2 LT W.T.H. Hilpern joined on 27th. 1 wounded.)

While Billy was in the Plugstreet area (Belgium) he visited the town of Poperinghe in the rear area were the troops could rest up. Here he visited Toc-H leaving a message asking to meet up with his friends (Ned Briggs or Billy Greenwood).

On recovering from his wounds Billy was posted back to the 3rd Battalion East Lancashire Regiment on the 8th May 1915 then attached to the 6th East Lancashire Regiment on the 21st September, sent to the Dardanelles (Gallipoli, Turkey) and promoted to acting Sergeant, here he was wounded again being shot through the right elbow on the 18th November 1915 and hospitalised in Malta on the 26th November 1915, on arriving back home he was sent to the Southbank Road Hospital, Southport.

SERGEANT’S THANKS
BURNLEY MAN WOUNDED TWICE
(Burnley Express 01/01/16)
Sergeant Glasgow wrote to the Burnley Express saying; “I would be glad if you would publish this letter of thanks to the staff of this hospital (Southbank Road, Southport) and to the Mayor and Mayoress of Southport for the manner in which I and my comrades have been treated during the time I have been here, and also for the fine time we all had at Christmas.”
He also said “He saw more shelling by the Turks in one day than he saw in five months in France. The former sent 500 shells in one day, and killed only one man. The more severe fighting of course was taking place in France. Here, he remarked we had a decent lot of fellows in front of us. We had the Saxons, and they would not fire unless we did. Last Christmas Day (1914 Billy was in Plugstreet) we arranged with them to have a football match, but for some reason or other it did not come off. Englishmen and Saxons conversed and shook hands with each other. The latter give us their word that they would not shoot unless they had orders to do so, and they said they would fire in the air. January to March when we were fighting the Saxons, we only lost 36 men killed and wounded; when we moved away however, and met the Prussians we lost 500 men in a few days.” He said about the Dardanelles “people had said it was warm out there, but he had found it very much otherwise”.

After recovering Billy was posted back to the 3rd Battalion East Lancashire Regiment then transferred to the 12th (Labour) Devonshire Regiment (In April 1917 Battalion transferred to 152nd & 153rd Labour Company), No 3 infantry work, No 90609 on the 7th April 1916, landing for a second time in France & Flanders on the 15th May 1916 and on the 8th July 1918 transferred to the 1/5th East Lancashire Regiment as a Sergeant, and then to the 1st East Lancashire Regiment on the 4th April 1919. He was transferred to Special Reserve and demobilised on the 13th of May 1919.
His character is described as very good, and he was awarded two wound stripes, he was also awarded 1 red chevron for his 1914 service and three blue chevrons for the three years after.

He married Annie Halstead on the 5th August 1919, the witnesses being John W Walker and Sarah Anne Horne.

On the 11th August 1920 aged 28, he re-enlisted into the 5th Battalion East Lancashire Regiment Territorial Force, No 3377485.