'Billy' Reedman was born in Cleethorpes in 1895, the son of Charles Henry and Florence. The birth of his brother, Robert Chester, occurred the following year 1896 (died 1915). He was living in in 1901, and 1911, with his parents and siblings in Barnack, working as a farm labourer, The family - Charles Reedman, 41 Florence Reedman 40, William Reedman 15, Robert Reedman 14, Gladys Reedman 11.

He was a member of the Barnack church choir and an enthusiastic Boy Scout. He had been appointed Scoutmaster a few months before enlistment.

Billy enlisted with the 1/4 Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment and was killed on 13th October 1915 aged 20. He was last seen in the fighting at the Hohenzollern Redoubt, a heavily defended German fortification, the day before the Battle of Loos ended. 

His name is recorded on the Loos Memorial.

The 1/4th and 1/5th Battalions, Lincolnshire Regiment, were the first to go 'over the top', they were wiped out in less then half an hour. Of those killed 90% of the 1/4th Lincolns and 97% of the 1/5th Lincolns have no known graves. It is interesting to note that these percentages were higher than in the 'Battle of the Somme'. 

Records show that as these (Territorial Force) battalions were recruited from the same towns and villages, many brothers, fathers and sons, uncles and cousins all died together. ​

Billy’s brother Private Robert Chester Reedman, who is buried in Barnack cemetery, was Barnack’s first casualty of the war.