William Kerr

At the outbreak of war in 1914 Ker joined the RNVR but like many other volunteers not required for seagoing positions he was posted to the Royal Naval Division in January 1915 and commissioned as a Sub Lieutenant on 19th January 1915. On 30th January he was assigned to Hawke Battalion but didn’t actually join the battalion at Blandford, Dorset until 9th March 1915. By this time the bulk of the Division had left for Lemnos, Greece in the run up to the Gallipoli landings but Ker did not leave for Gallipoli until May 1915.
In September 1915 he was posted to Alexandria from Gallipoli and rejoined his battalion a month later.
Between November 1915 and February 1916 he was several times temporarily promoted to Lieutenant, while in command of a Company, reverting to Sub Lieut when he no longer did so. By February 1916 his promotion had been made permanent. During this period British forces evacuated Gallipoli and the Royal Naval Division found itself garrisoning islands in the Aegean.
In February 1916 Ker was granted leave and left for Britain. When he rejoined the Battalion in May it had moved for the Western Front. The Division did not reach the Somme battlefield until late in the conflict and their first major engagement was an attack on Beaucourt on 13th November.