Gunner William Ernest Lockley
b 1895 Walsall, Staffordshire
D 1966 Walsall, Staffordshire
William Ernest Lockley joined the Royal Garrison Artillery as a gunner in November 1915 at the age of 22. He spent time in France in 1917 & then was in hospital for 18 days from 31.12.17. He was transferred to the 13th Siege Battery of the RGA as part of the British Expeditionary Force in May 1918. The 13th Siege Battery RGA had been deployed to France in
February 1915.
He was awarded the British War Medal & the Victory Medal & was discharged in February 1919.
The Royal Garrison Artillery came into being in 1899 and was an arm of the Royal Artillery that was originally tasked with the manning of the guns of the British Empire's forts & fortresses, including coastal artillery batteries, the heavy gun batteries attached to each infantry division, and the guns of the siege artillery.
The RGA retained the badge & dress uniform of the Royal Regiment of Artillery.
[The corps name was discontinued in 1924, when the RGA was re-amalgamated into the Royal Artillery.]
From 1914 when the army possessed very little heavy artillery, the RGA grew into a very large component of the British Forces on the battlefield, being armed with heavy, large-calibre guns and howitzers.
The Siege Batteries (such as the 9th Siege Battery at the Battle of the Somme), had the largest guns and howitzers, mounted on railways or on fixed concrete emplacements. They were deployed behind the front line, tasked with destroying enemy artillery, supply routes, railways and stores and had immense destructive power.
[A Howitzer is a type of artillery piece characterized by a relatively short barrel and the use of comparatively small propellant charges to propel projectiles at relatively high trajectories, with a steep angle of descent.]
