William Woolman Fisher was born in Nottingham, in 1885, the son of Joseph & Fanny Fisher. In the 1901 census, William is recorded as a domestic servant, living with his parents in Carlton Road, Kibworth Harcourt. He was a Lance-Corporal in the 1st/5th Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment, service number 2086.
He was aged 30 years when he was killed on 13th October 1915, and is commemorated on the war memorial at Loos-en-Gohelle, Pas de Calais, France, panel 42 to 44, along with Private William Fisher of the Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) and Private William Fisher of the Gloucestershire Regiment, both killed on the same day. Lance-Corporal Fisher was awarded the 1914-15 Star, the Victory Medal & the British War Medal.
Obituary from Market Harborough Advertiser, 26th October 1915
KIBWORTH LANCE-CORPORAL
KILLED IN ACTION
A Comrade’s Tribute
Mr. and Mrs. Fisher, of Albert Street, Kibworth, have received a letter from Pte. Jack Mellors (somewhere in Flanders), stating that their son, Lance-Corporal Signaller William Fisher, of the 5th Leicesters, was killed on October 13th, from a bullet in the neck whilst laying wires. He added that they gave him a good soldier’s burial, and that William was a fine soldier and greatly respected by his chums.
Lance-Corporal Fisher, who was 30 years of age, was for several years a Territorial (Harborough Company); also for two years prior to the war he was assistant scout-master of the Kibworth Boy Scouts, and was a favourite with the boys. He was greatly respected by Kibworth people.
Mr. and Mrs. Fisher have three other sons in the Army – Tom, Charles, and Jack. The last named is in hospital from wounds received in Flanders. Another son, Arthur, is in the Navy.
The following is an extract from a letter written home by a soldier at the front:-
“I expect you will have heard that our regiment has been in a big fight, the enemy’s trench being taken at the point of the bayonet. Scout-master Fisher was killed in it last Wednesday. He acted mast gallantly and daringly too, as he ran the telephone wire out to the German trench, and then brought six wounded men out of the open back into the trench; he himself stood up on the parapet whilst telling others to get down under cover. I think he was a fine specimen of a British soldier, and I have never heard anyone say different. He was a signaller, and his comrades thought so much of him that they carried him a long, long way, so that they could bury him in a nice spot and have a service for him. I have always said he was one of the best in our regiment, for he never used to grumble, and I am truly sorry for him, but I hope he has gone where there are no such things as wars. He was promoted Lance-Corporal sometime ago for some good work he had done.”
