Source:  Bond of Sacrifice, Volume 1

He was educated privately and later at Clifton College, Bristol between 1903 and 1906.   He was a keen sportsman later playing rugby for Clifton RFC and later for his Regiment, and cricket for Gloucestershire.

On 24th December 1910 he was appointed to a Special Reserve Commission as a Second Lieutenant in the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion Leicestershire Regiment and promoted to Lieutenant on 16th February 1912.   On 16th December 1912 he was authorised to transfer to the Gloucestershire Regiment, as a Second Lieutenant, in the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion.

At the outbreak of war he was posted for active service with 1st Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment leaving for France with them on 14th August 1914.   The Battalion was part of 3rd Infantry Brigade, 1st Division.   Soon after arrival in France he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, on 18th August 1914, and fought with the Battalion during the Retreat from Mons, the Battle of the Marne, the Battle of the Aisne and at the First Battle of Ypres.

On the day he died, 23rd October 1914, he was commanding No15 Platoon of "D" Company in the front line to the north of Langemarck (map reference 20SW4.U.22d).   His platoon was in support of 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards, of 1st Infantry Brigade, and was ordered forward to prevent the Germans making further ground in front of Koekuit.   This he did, and his platoon, at considerable loss, drove the Germans back.   He was, however, killed by rifle fire in these actions, with 2Lt H E Hippisley.   His body was never found, or identified, and he is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Panel 22 and 34.

Notification of his death was published in The Times published on 31st October 1914 and in the Bristol Evening News on 27th October 1914.   William Yalland is commemorated on the Fishponds War Memorial, on the family grave in St Mary's Churchyard, Fishponds, Bristol and on the Clifton RFC Roll of Honour.

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At the outbreak of war he enlisted into the York and Lancaster Regiment, and after training he was posted to active service in France on 13th July 1915.   He was serving as a Company Quartermaster Sergeant, regimental number 12480, with a Service Battalion of the Yorks & Lancs Regt when he was, after training with the Officer Training Corps of the 1/28th (County of London) Battalion (Artist's Rifles) at St Omer. appointed to a Temporary Regular Commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Gloucestershire Regiment on 19th March 1916.

He was posted to the 8th (Service) Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment who had formed in August 1914 and arrived in France on 18th July 1915.   2Lt Yaneske joined the Battalion whilst it was stationed in the Neuve Chapelle sector as part of the 57th Infantry Brigade, 19th (Western Division) and on 8th May 1916, two months prior to the commencement of the Battle of the Somme the Division was transferred to III Corps of the Fourth Army to commence training in preparation for operations on The Somme.   The Division's first action was on 3rd July 1916 where it attacked in the La Boisselle area.   The Battalion suffered grievously in the area of "St Andrew's Trench"  with 6 officers killed and 14 wounded.   A total of 282 other ranks were posted killed, wounded or missing.

On the night of 22nd July the Battalion began an attack on the German front line trenches known as "Intermediate Trench", north-east of Bazentin-le-Petit running from the north of High Wood to the south of Martinpuich, with 10th Bn R Warks Regt and 7th Bn S Lancs Regt.   The attacking troops came under heavy and sustained machine gun and rifle fire and at 1am on the 23rd withdrew to their original positions.   8 officers of the Battalion were killed in this costly and futile attack with 186 other ranks who were killed, wounded or missing.

On 29th July the Battalion again took over the front line trenches north-east of Bazentin-le-Petit in preparation for a further Brigade attack on the German "Intermediate Trench" (map reference 57C.SW3.S.2d).   At 6.10pm on the 30th, the Battalion, on the left of the Brigade with 10th Bn Worcs Regt,  attacked with "A" and "B" Companies in front, and "C" and "D" Companies in the second wave.  The attack was stopped by deadly enfilade machine gun fire and concealed snipers from the right.   The Battalion survivors returned to their original front line at 9.30pm.   Walter Yaneske was killed in this attack with fellow officers 2Lt W Collins, 2Lt T D Fitzgerald, 2Lt A D Slocombe, 2Lt H G Thomas and Lt E B Walters.   160 other ranks were reported killed, wounded or missing.

His body was never recovered from the battlefield, or identified, and he is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Pier and Face 5A and 5B.

Walter Yaneske is commemorated on the Firth Park Methodist Church Roll of Honour, Sheffield (as Walter Yaneski).

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At the outbreak of war he enlisted as a Private soldier into the 6th Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment TF, and was posted to the 1/6th Battalion when it was formed from the first line troops of 6th Battalion in late August 1914.   The unit became part of 144th Infantry Brigade, 48th (1st South Midland) Division and moved to Danbury, Essex to undergo training for active service.  On 2nd February 1915 he was appointed to a Territorial Force Commission as a Second Lieutenant in the 1/6th Battalion and appointed to command a platoon in "B" Company".   He was with the Battalion when it embarked for France on 31st March 1915 and landed at Boulogne later the same evening.   The Division concentrated south-west of Ypres and the 1/6th Battalion were billeted initially at Oudezeele then at Bailleul, and after instruction at Armentieres, first took over front line trenches in the eastern edge of Ploegsteert Wood, on 17th April 1915, as Brigade Reserve.

At the end on May 1915 the Germans commenced mining activities in the Ploegsteert Sector, blowing a mine opposite the line held by the Battalion on 29th May followed up by an artillery bombardment.   The mine crater extended from the edge of the Battalion's wire into No-Man's land.   At dusk, two parties, each under a subaltern, were ordered to seize and consolidate the crater.   Simultaneously the Germans set out to occupy their side of the crater but were driven back by the Battalion's consolidating parties.   Wilfred Young was wounded in these actions and was being evacuated to a medical facility but died of his wounds on 30th May.   He is buried in Lancashire Cottage Cemetery, a front-line cemetery to the north of Ploegsteert, in Plot II, Row A, Grave 10.

He was the first officer of the Battalion to die in the war and his death was reported in The Times published on 7th June 1915.

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