Gunner William Anderson
    Motor Cycle Machine Gun Corps

William Anderson, a native of Newtownards, Ulster, enlisted with the Royal Irish Rifles on 17 September 1914 at the age of nineteen. Before enlistment he had been a motor cycle mechanic and was quickly transferred to the newly formed Motor Machine Gun Service which later became the Motor Machine Gun Corps. 

We know very little of William’s service, though as a motor cycle machine gunner he would have been expecting a role in a fast moving infantry support unit. However, as the war became entrenched he would have had to accept a more static role until the final months of the war when more open and pursuit warfare took place.
During the attack on the Messines Ridge, along the southern side of the Ypres salient, in 1917 he was badly gassed. The final part of his recuperation was spent at The Rest, Porthcawl where he met  Elizabeth Mary Davies who may have been involved there as a civilian nursing aide. 

William Anderson in Belgium 1917

When sufficiently, though never fully, recovered he returned to the Western Front to ‘Try our luck on last time” as it says on the back of one of his photo post cards home. He re-embarked for France on 11 April 1918 in time to take part in the “Kaiser’s Offensive” the last big German effort of the war. William finished his war in Comines, France, just over the Belgian border. A poignant drawing of two speeding motor machine gunners entitled “Windy Moments” has a note on it “10:55 11/11/1918. 5 mins to go” is one of the last entries to his Autograph book.

William Anderson (arrow) and his section about to re-embark for France April 1918. Rear of postcard reads “Proceeding overseas today (Sunday 14/04/18) to try our luck once more. Your loving brother, Billy. Will write when I get landed. All going well.”

The drawing is from William’s Autograph book (by R.A. Bates?) entitled “Windy Moments”The comment reads ”M.M.G.S in action 10:55 am 11/11/18. 5minutes to go.”

After being demobbed in February 1919 he married Elizabeth, had two sons, Ronald and Thomas, and opened a motor cycle dealership at                9 Ewenny Road, Bridgend. Sadly he was killed in 1925 when his motor cycle crashed through the front window of his shop. The coroner thought he may have suffered a heart attack as the result of having been so badly gassed.

William’s motor cycle shop, which was converted to a sweet shop by his widow in 1925.

William and Elizabeth Anderson 1919

 William returned only briefly to Ulster in 1919 but this information did not pass down the generations. His descendants, however, have recently located family members in Newtownards and have flown to Belfast to meet them. Both families realized facts they didn’t know. Firstly the Newtownards family thought Uncle William had been killed in the war, as their grandparents had received no more contact from him. The Bridgend family were surprised to see his name of the Newtonards Cenotaph. William’s grandson , Paul, recounts how it was very moving to meet so many unknown family members, especially as they looked so alike. Paul remarked “So the Ulstermen now know what happened to their lost sheep.”

                                                                     * Information and photographs provided by Gunner William Anderson's grandson,Mr Paul Anderson.