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167333 Sapper
WILLIAM SHIRLAW
Royal Engineers 

By 

Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Edward De Santis, MSCE, P.E., MinstRE
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
(July 2023) 

Figure 1. 167333 Sapper William Shirlaw, R.E.
(Image from the Imperial War Museum collection) 

1. INTRODUCTION

According his military service papers and family tree, William Shirlaw was born on 28 August 1887 in Townhead, Glasgow, Scotland.  He was the son of William Shirlaw (1865-1946) and Elizabeth Shirlaw, née McKeachie (1851-1906).[1]

2. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION  

The following is a description of Shirlaw based on the medical examination given him when he was called up for service in 1916:[2] 

Oddly, Shirlaw’s medical form does not include his hair or eye colors as is usual for enlistment documents, but what is usual is the inclusion of the man’s religion in his physical description. The latter being a strange requirement of the War Office.

3. RECRUITMENT, ENLISTMENT AND TRAINING 

Recruitment

            Unfortunately, William Shirlaw’s Attestation paper is difficult to read, especially the portion that describes by whom he was recruited for enlistment. 

Enlistment

            Shirlaw enlisted in the Royal Engineers in Glasgow on 11 December 1915.  He indicated the following on his Attestation paper:[4] 

·         His home address was 18 Weaver Street, Glasgow.[5]

·         He was 28 years and 3 months old.

·         His next of kin was his father, William Shirlaw.

·         He was a Turning Lathe Machineman [sic] by trade.[6]

·         He was not married and he had no prior naval or military service.

·         He was willing to enlist for General Service and to be vaccinated.

·         He was willing to serve for the duration of the war.

Instead of being immediately placed on active service and sent to training, Shirlaw was posted to the Army Reserve on 12 December 1915.[7] 

On 3 May 1916, in preparation for his call up, William Shirlaw was given another medical examination in Glasgow.  His service paper indicates that the examining doctor described him just as indicated above in Section 2.  He was found fit for service in the Royal Engineers.[8] 

On 5 May 1916 he was mobilized for service with the rank of Pioneer and the trade of Turner, Metal, “Indifferent.”  The term “Indifferent” appears to signify that his proficiency as a metal turner had not yet been evaluated by the Army.   

Shirlaw was given his first T.A.B. inoculation on 12 May 1916.  This vaccination was given to provide immune protection against typhoid and paratyphoid A and B infection. 

On 5 June 1916 Shirlaw’s Attestation was approved with a Certificate of Approving Officer, Depot Companies, R.E. at the School of Military Engineering at Chatham, Kent.  He was assigned regimental number 167333 and the rank of Sapper.  His trade was listed as “Fitter”[9] and he was posted to “D” Depot Company.  He was ready to be trained as a soldier in the Royal Engineers.[10]    

Training

            Following the administrative actions involved with his enlistment, Shirlaw was sent off for his recruit training.  With the exception of Drivers, every recruit enlisted for the Royal Engineers had to have a trade.  Pioneers and Sappers were sent to Chatham where they were trained in infantry drill and pioneer duties.  The engineer recruits also received musketry training.  When the course of training was completed the recruits had to pass an examination and were then transferred to engineer formations, where they received higher pay and could earn extra allowances by working at their special trades.  During the Great War the training cycle was shortened to about eight weeks before the man was posted to a field unit.

            Following his training and in preparation for deployment abroad, Shirlaw was vaccinated against smallpox on 9 June 1916 and he was given the second T.A.B. inoculation on 20 August 1916.  He embarked for France on 6 November 1916.[11]    

4. POSTINGS, ASSIGNMENTS AND CAMPAIGN SERVICE

France (1916-1919)

            Shirlaw arrived in France on 7 November 1916 and was posted to the R.E. General Base Depot, probably No. 4 Base Depot at Rouen.[12]  On 20 November he was posted to and joined the 1^st Entrenching Battalion.  Entrenching battalions were temporary units formed during the Great War.  Men in these battalions were trained as infantry, but were primarily utilized for manual labour duties such as trench repair, wire laying, road making and assisting tunnellers, pioneers, engineers and signals. The battalions were also used as pools of men from which drafts of replacements could be drawn by conventional infantry battalions or other units.  Shirlaw’s posting to the entrenching battalion was a short one and on 17 December he joined the 257^th Tunnelling Company.[13]

Missions of the Tunnelling Companies

Trench warfare and the stalemate in France and Flanders caused both sides to embark on mining operations in a determined struggle for tactical superiority in those areas where conditions were favorable. In areas where the opposing trench lines were relatively close together and the geology was suitable for mining, the tunnelling companies sought ways to not only place mines under enemy positions, but also developed measures of detection of the enemy mine systems. When detected, an enemy mine would be immediately destroyed by the explosion of a camouflet, or countermine, often at the cost of severe damage to one’s own tunnel system. There were many underground encounters, as one tunnelling team, breaking into an enemy gallery, met the enemy underground. Sometimes encounters included fighting at close quarters, hand to hand, in the tunnels and subterranean chambers.[14]

The blowing of mines below enemy front line positions became a regular feature of local actions. Infantry tactics developed that would enable the rushing and capture of the crater formed by the explosions. The craters were often themselves a dominant terrain feature, as the lip of earth thrown up was usually higher than the surrounding ground in the area, giving possible observations over the enemy. The crater, once captured, also provided the attacking force with a defensive position that could be exploited to consolidate the captured portion of the enemy’s trench line. Crater fighting became a highly dangerous and unpleasant feature of many actions on the Western Front. It was into this very precarious line of work that William Shirlaw was soon thrust after leaving England for the front. The valor of the tunnellers must be admired for the courage it took simply to work underground in very confined spaces just digging the tunnels. Add to this the courage it took to fight an enemy soldier under these conditions in total darkness and in the foul air of the tunnels, and one can only admire William Shirlaw for the brave man that he was.[15]

Service with the 257^th Tunnelling Company

The 257^th Tunnelling Company was serving in the Chipgny Sector north of Neuve Chapelle in April of 1916 under the control of General Headquarters of the British Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders. By May of 1916, when Shirlaw was called up, the company was at No. 4 General Base Depot in Rouen, France.

In June of 1916 the company, under the command of Captain Harry Hannay, R.E.,[16] was attached to the 3^rd Australian Tunnelling Company for duty near Bethune, in the British line from Winchester to Sign Post Lane. The attachment to the Australians gave the men in the 257^th Tunnelling Company the opportunity for some training in the field from an experienced unit. Following this brief orientation period, the company took its place in line. Their first mission was not one of tunnelling, but rather one of fighting. Soon after their arrival near Bethune, No. 3 Section of the company, under 2^nd Lieutenant L.B. Templeton, R.E., assisted the 5^th Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment in repelling a German attack near the Ducks Bill.  Since Shirlaw did not join the company until 17 December 1916, he was not involved in any of these actions.

However, the 257^th Tunnelling Company served in many of the major actions fought on the Western Front during 1917 and 1918 while Shirlaw was with the company. The following table summarizes those actions and gives some idea of where William Shirlaw served during the war.

On 1 April 1917 the Officer Commanding 257^th Tunnelling Company recommended the Shirlaw be classified as a “Proficient” Fitter with the rank of Pioneer and that he be granted an increase in his Engineer Pay.[17]  Service Pay or Engineer pay in addition to their regular pay was granted to men in the Royal Engineers who demonstrated proficiency in their military trades.  Shirlaw’s commanding officer obviously was impressed with his performance up to this point.  As a Fitter, Shirlaw was employed in making or adapting existing fittings to assist the men who were actually in the mines.  The mines, in fact, were actually tunnels that required drilling, digging, shoring, track-laying and other activities that a Fitter could fabricate or adapt from other fittings.   

As indicated in the table above, the 257^th Tunnelling company was with the Canadian Corps at the Battle of Vimy.  The company was active in the Neuve Chapelle area in April 1917 and during the opening day of the battle on 9 April 1917, Sapper Thomas Eden, aged 29, of Cradley, died alongside his peers when a tunnel they were working on collapsed.  These deaths, and many others among the tunnellers, show just how dangerous this work was.  See Annex A for a full list of company losses.

While at Nieuport in June 1917, the 257^th Tunnelling Company was employed on the construction of subways from the front lines to the support lines immediately behind the front. Subways were underground passages from one location to another that allowed men and supplies to be moved below ground, unobserved by the enemy and safe from direct small arms fire. In the Nieuport area this work was done in sand under difficult conditions and unlike soil conditions on any other part of the front.[18] 

The German Offensive of March 1918

The great German offensive in March of 1918 placed William Shirlaw and his comrades of the 257^th Tunnelling Company in a very precarious position for a number of weeks. The superior numbers of the Germans enabled them to overrun the British front line trench system occupied by the infantry. Shirlaw’s company soon became involved in the fighting and sustained many casualties. The men of the 257^th Tunnelling Company had been accustomed to long periods in settled billets or camps. They now found themselves involved in a war of movement. Day after day they had to hurriedly evacuate camp and were continually marching and countermarching, digging and holding posts, beating off enemy attacks and counterattacking, bombing and machine-gunning and executing all the tactical maneuvers usually done by the infantry. In addition, they were tasked with blowing a number of road craters and were required to prepare bridges and other structures for demolition. The tunnellers continued these combat activities until early April when the German tide was finally stemmed.  See the table above.[19]

William Shirlaw was admitted to hospital on 2 May 1918 and he rejoined his unit the following day.  Obviously his injury or medical problem was not very serious.  Unfortunately his service papers do not indicate the reason for his short hospitalization.

He took part with his company in the pursuit of the German forces during their retreat between 28 September and 11 November 1918.  The company did no tunnelling work during this period.  The 257^th probably functioned more like a divisional field company at this time, providing general field engineering support to units of the Fifth Army.

Home and Demobilization

            Shirlaw received a medical examination in France on 7 January 1919 in preparation for his return home.  He submitted no claim for disability due to his Army service at this time.[20]  He was dispatched to the U.K. on 19 January and he reported to his designated Dispersal Station in Georgetown, Paisley, Scotland on 16 February where he received his Protection Certificate and Certificate of Identity, Army Form Z. 11.  Many soldiers were destined for unemployment after demobilization and this form was particularly important for them as it would prove their identity when collecting Unemployment Benefit.[21]  

The form indicated that he had served as a Sapper in the 257^th Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers and that his Medical Category was “A.”  Medical Category A indicated that he was able to march, see to shoot, hear well and stand active service conditions; hence, he could be called back to active service in case of an emergency.  He was then transferred to the Class “Z” Reserve.  Shirlaw indicated that his residence upon demobilization would be the 18 Weaver Street address where he was living when he enlisted. 

5. MEDALS, AWARDS AND DECORATIONS  

Sapper William Shirlaw received two medals for his service during the war.  His service papers show that on 13 October 1922 he acknowledge receipt of the British War Medal and Victory Medal.   

Figure 2. The British War Medal and Victory Medal.
(Image from the author’s collection) 

NOTE: These are not Shirlaw’s medals.  The image has been included for illustrative purposes only.

Figure 3. Sapper William Shirlaw’s Medal Index Card.
(Image courtesy of Ancestry.com)

            According to the family tree found on Ancestry.com, William Shirlaw died in Glasgow on 18 April 1945.

ANNEX A

257^th Tunnelling Company Fatal Casualties During the Great War 

The following is a statistical analysis of these deaths by various categories.  

1. Total Company Casualties from all Causes: 35      

2. Deaths by Rank 

Captains:                     1

2^nd Lieutenants:           1         

Sergeants:                    2         

Corporals:                    1                     

Lance Corporals:         2         

Sappers:                       28                     

3. Deaths by Year 

1916:   6                     

1917:   25       

1918:   4 

4. Regimental numbers in the 158XXX series: 22 of 35, or 62.9%.  This would seem to indicate that numbers in this series were the numbers issued to men who originally formed the 257^th Tunnelling Company.

 REFERENCES:

Books 

GRANT GRIEVE, W. & NEWMAN, B. Tunnellers: The Story of the Tunnelling Companies, Royal Engineers, during the World War. Herbert Jenkins Limited, London, 1936. 

Family Tree 

Ancestry.com: William Shirlaw (1887-1945).

https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/50419396/person/13065546692/facts?_phsrc=hFr3404&_phstart=successSource 

Internet Web Sites 

1. Wikipedia: 257^th Tunnelling Company.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/257th_Tunnelling_Company

2. Imperial War Museum: Lives of the First World War (Royal Engineers)

https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/searchlives/field/unit/Royal%20Engineers/filter

3. Facebook: Sapper Thomas Eden, 257th Tunnelling Company, RE

https://www.facebook.com/SprThomasEden/

4. RootsChat.com. Sapper William Shirlaw, 257^th Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers

https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=686995.0;PHPSESSID=3ktjl2j8h3ig77j38p00ci1q37

5. 158073 Sergeant Frederick T. Hampson, M.M., R.E.

https://www.reubique.com/158073.htm

6. The Long, Long Trail: British Base Depots in France 1914-1918.

https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/other-aspects-of-order-of-battle/british-base-depots-in-france-1914-1918/ 

Medal Rolls 

1. Medal Index Card.

2. Medal Roll, British War Medal and Victory Medal.  

Periodicals 

Battle Honours of the Royal Engineers. The Royal Engineers Journal. The Institution of Royal Engineers, Chatham, Kent, 1925-1932.

Service Papers 

1. Short Service Attestation, Army Form B. 2512 (Original and Duplicate).

2. Casualty Form – Active Service, Army Form B. 103.

3. Descriptive Report on Enlistment.

4. Receipt for Medals, Army Form B. 5112.

5. Statement of Services.

6. Protection Certificate and Certificate of Identity, Army Form Z. 11.

7. Statement as to Disability, Army Form Z. 22.

8. Trade and Special Qualifications.

9. MEMORANDUM, Army Form C348, 14 June 1917, Recommendation for re-mustering as a Sapper, Fitter “Proficient.”

10. Medical History, Army Form B. 178a.

11. Vaccination Record.

12. Company O.C.’s recommendation for Engineer Pay.  

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    ENDNOTES