William Henry Phillips

Private William Henry Phillips, MM 6th Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry

Private William Henry Phillips served with the 6th Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry during the First World War. His service number was 7372, and he is recorded in the London Gazette as “7372 Pte. W. H. Phillips, Som. L.I.” among men awarded the Military Medal. The award was published in the Supplement to the London Gazette in December 1916. (The Gazette)

Phillips was from the Yeovil area and, according to family tradition, was a member of Yeovil’s “Straw Hat Brigade,” a local name associated with men from the area who served during the war. His family understood that his Military Medal was awarded for bravery while attending to wounded men under fire. A local newspaper account reportedly described the award in those terms, although the surviving Gazette entry itself confirms the award but does not give the detailed citation.

The exact action for which Phillips received the Military Medal has not yet been proven. One strong family possibility is that it followed the bitter fighting around Delville Wood in August 1916, where the Somerset Light Infantry and many other British units endured extremely heavy combat during the Battle of the Somme. Another possible context is the fighting at Railway Wood on 25 September 1915, when the battalion suffered serious casualties and the battalion adjutant praised the stretcher-bearers for their outstanding conduct, writing that they had worked magnificently, especially on the morning of the 25th. This would fit the family account of Phillips attending wounded men under fire, but without the original recommendation or battalion-level gallantry paperwork, the precise action remains uncertain.

His medal group consists of the Military Medal, the 1914–15 Star, the British War Medal, and the Victory Medal. The Military Medal was a gallantry decoration awarded to non-commissioned officers and men of the British Army for bravery in the field. In Phillips’s case, its presence alongside the First World War campaign trio reflects both front-line service and a recognized act of courage.

Family memory adds that Phillips may originally have been recommended for the Victoria Cross, with the award later reduced at higher command level. This has not been confirmed by official records, but the tradition shows how strongly his bravery was remembered within the family. What is certain is that he was officially recognized for gallantry and that his actions were remembered locally and at home.

Like many men who survived the First World War, Phillips did not leave the war behind him easily. His family recalled that he never fully recovered from his experiences, suffering what would now likely be understood as psychological trauma from combat. He died before later generations of the family could know him personally, but his medals were eventually recovered and returned to the family, where they remain treasured heirlooms.

Private William Henry Phillips’s story is therefore more than a medal entry. It is the story of a Yeovil soldier of the Somerset Light Infantry, a man who served in some of the hardest fighting of the First World War, who risked himself for the wounded under fire, and whose courage was formally recognized with the Military Medal.