LEATHERHEAD WAR MEMORIALS - WWII
Serjeant William Ernest Henry Steer
12th (10th Bn The Green Howards [Yorkshire Regiment]) Battalion
The Parachute Regiment, Army Air Corps
Town Memorial World War II
SERJEANT WILLIAM HENRY ERNEST STEER Service Number: 1448629 The Parachute Regiment, A.A.C. 12th (10th Bn. The Green Howards [Yorkshire Regt.]) Bn. Died 4 July 1944 Age 23 years old Buried at RANVILLE WAR CEMETERY IIIA. D. 7. France Son of Bert and Sophia Steer, of Leatherhead, Surrey. He is named on his family headstone in Leatherhead Parish Churchyard: "ALSO OF MY DEAR SON WILLIAM
KILLED IN ACTION IN NORMANDY WHILST SERVING WITH THE 6TH AIRBORNE DIVISION 4TH JULY 1944, AGED 23" |
 His grave in Ranville War Cemetery source: Steve Wilson to ParaData  Remembered on his family headstone source: Haslam |
A general account of the fighting that William Steer took part in can be read in
The Drive on Caen: Northern France 7 June-9 July 1944: Second World War 60th Anniversary
and at 12th (Yorkshire) Parachute Battalion
Surrey Advertiser
Saturday 5 August 1944
LEATHERHEAD PARATROOPER’S DEATH
Much sympathy is felt with Mrs. S. Steer, of 15, Middle Road, Leatherhead, who has been notified that her eldest son, Sergt. William Henry Ernest Steer, Army Air Corps, has been killed in action in North-West Europe.
Much sympathy is felt with Mrs. S. Steer, of 15, Middle Road, Leatherhead, who has been notified that her eldest son, Sergt. William Henry Ernest Steer, Army Air Corps, has been killed in action in North-West Europe.
Sergt. Steer, who was 23 years of age, was
called up as a Territorial a week before the outbreak of war, and
afterwards served in the Royal Artillery with the First Army in Africa
and Italy.
Earlier in the year he volunteered as a
paratrooper, and was sent home for special training. He was attached to
the Green Howards when sent to the Continent. Over 6ft. in height and
well built, Sergt. Steer was extremely popular with his officers and men
in the ranks.
He was recommended for a commission, but
preferred to serve as a non-commissioned officer. His mother was
notified that he was wounded earlier in July and in hospital, but had no
other news until she was informed of his death. An Army chaplain who
performed the burial service, in writing to Mrs. Steer, told her he had
been killed by sniper, so she concludes that he recovered from his
wounds and went into action again.
His commanding officer, who wrote a letter
of sympathy to Mrs. Steer, spoke of Sergt. Steer in high terms. Before
the war Sergt. Steer was employed by a Leatherhead firm of builders and
decorators. A brother, A.B. Albert Steer, is serving in the Royal Navy.
His life
William Steer's birth was registered at Epsom in January 1921.His father was Bert or Bertie Steer, born 19 December 1886 in Leatherhead, Surrey.
Bert died on 1 December 1928 and is buried in Leatherhead Parish Churchyard. William is named on the headstone.
His mother was Sophia Palmer born 18 October 1889, Hanwell, Middlesex. In the 1911 Census, Sophia (21) was a Housemaid at the Princess Mary Village Homes Industrial School for Girls in Addlestone near Weybridge, Surrey. This was an institution with royal patronage, where magistrates could place girls aged under 14 whose mothers had twice been convicted of crime. She was listed as a scholar there at the age of ten in the 1901 Census.
Bertie and Sophia were married at Leatherhead Parish Church on 26 October 1912. He was a Painter, living at 4 The Crescent, Leatherhead, a son of Eli Steer, a Gardener. Sophia was now in Domestic Service living and working at the Royal School for the Blind, Leatherhead. Her father Henry Palmer was deceased.
William's siblings included: Albert Eli Steer, born 2 January 1923, who served in the Navy, and Mary Elizabeth, born 8 October 1926.
During William's life the Steer family lived at 13 Middle Road, Leatherhead, Surrey.
The newspaper report above says that William had been called up as a Territorial a week before the outbreak of war. Hence in the 1939 England & Wales Register, for which the data was collected on 29th September 1939, he was not with Sophia and her other children at 13 Middle Road.
After the war
His mother Sophia's death was registered in January 1968, Surrey Mid Eastern District.William Steer is remembered on these memorials
Leatherhead Town Memorial
Leatherhead RBL Roll of Honour, Leatherhead Parish Church
the website editor would like to add
further information on this casualty
e.g. a photo of him, and any recollections of him
last updated 5 Sep 20