BILLINGHAM, Arthur

Arthur Billingham was born in Cradley and was the son of Mr and Mrs Joseph Billingham of 63 Bearmore Road, Old Hill. He volunteered at 16 for the South Staffords Territorials and was later transferred to the 2nd Battalion of the Essex Regiment in the 4th Division who in 1918 suffered heavy losses during the German Spring offensives on the Somme and the Lys. However, they recovered by August and were ready for a major counter-attack which opened on the 8th August. They advanced in the valley of the Lys towards Merville but Private Arthur Billingham was killed on that day. This was the day that Ludendorff, the German C-in-C, described as the 'the black day of the German army' and which opened the long Advance to Victory. He was 20 years of age and is buried in Mont-Bernanchon British Cemetery (II C 1) and commemorated on the Cradley and Halesowen Memorials.