Orders, Decorations and Medals

Victory Medal 1914-19 (2) (204139 Pte. F. S. Howland, R.W. Kent R.; G-4361 Pte. W. Howland, E. Kent R.); 1914 Star (7120 Sgt. R. Brickwood, C. Gds.) this last renamed, good very fine (3) £40-50

William Howland was born and lived in Monks Horton, Kent, and enlisted at Hythe, Kent. Posted to the 6th Battalion East Kent Regiment, part of the 37th Brigade, 12th (Eastern) Division, he entered the France/Flanders theatre of war on 2 June 1915. In July the 6th Battalion began instruction in the trenches at Armentieres and from there it was moved to Plogsteert and took over the front line in Ploegsttert Wood.

In September the British launched what was to become known as the First Battle of Loos. The 12th Division moved forward and relieved units in Gun Trench on the night of 30 September and on the night of 2 October both the Divisional Commander Major-General Frederick Wing and his ADC Lieutenant Christopher Tower were killed. On 13 October the Division, including the 6th ‘Buffs’, launched a fresh attack to renew the offensive called the ‘Action of the Hohenzollern Redoubt’. After crossing the start line, the artillery smoke, which was intended to cover their advance, dispersed too quickly, and the battalion was cut down by concentrated machine-gun fire. The survivors returned to their trenches leaving 187 of their dead behind in no-man’s land. Private Howland was one of these. Having no known grave, his name is commemorated on the Loos Memorial. He was the son of George and Jane Howland of Sunnyside, Hythe, Kent.