File:Private William Cecil Tickle (6279131993).jpg

Pte Tickle enlisted on 7 September 1914 and was accepted although he was under age. He was killed on 3 July 1916, aged 17, during the Battle of the Somme.

His mother's handwritten note on the photograph (taken a few days before his death) describes him as "One of the very best". Pte Tickle is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial. Photograph presented by his mother, Mrs E A Tickle of Hornsea.

Private Tickle's battalion formed part of 12 Division during the Battle of the Somme. The Division moved up to Baizieux (Somme) on 30 June and reached Hénencourt and Millencourt by 10am on 1 July, in reserve to the British infantry attack that had begun earlier that morning.

It moved to relieve 8th Division, which had suffered a severe repulse at Ovillers-la-Boisselle, during the night of 1-2 July. Ordered to continue the attack on Ovillers, the 12th Division attack, at night, adopted sensible tactics of advancing across no man's land while the artillery bombarded the enemy and rushed the last few yards when it lifted.

9th Essex formed part of the first wave of the attack but came under heavy shellfire, possibly from the Leipzig salient, before it had reached even the British front line. The attack failed to achieve its objective.

Faces of the First World War

Find out more about this First World War Centenary project at www.1914.org/faces.

This image is from IWM Collections.

• The Museum released this image on a custom licence - IWM Non-Commercial license. However where the photograph has no known author, these are public domain under the 70 rule and where they were owned by the Ministry of Information, any other government department or agency, taken by a member of the military during their service or by a photographer commissioned by the services, these are now out of copyright restriction.