Centenary of the Battle of the Somme

Added: 01 July 2016

We remember Private William Osborne, the 1st Battalion, Hampshire Regiment was killed in action on the first day of the Battle of the Somme on 1st July 1916. He was only 25 years of age.

Born in Topsham in 1890, William was one of seven surviving children of Charles Osborne and Eliza née Channing. The family originally lived on the Strand before moving to North Street. Before the war William was a fisherman in Topsham like his father.

William was buried at the A.I.F. Burial Ground in Flers in the Department of the Somme.

We have photographs of his mother, brother Cecil and sister Minnie, displayed here, but not of William himself.  Does anyone have a photograph of William?