Rushden Echo, 2nd November 1917, transcribed by Kay Collins
Pte William Bird – Fallen in Action – Mother’s Second Bereavement
 We sincerely regret to report that Mrs George Bird, of Westfields-street, Higham Ferrers, has suffered further bereavement through the war by the death in action on October 21st, of her eldest son, Pte William Bird, of the Northants Regt. Mrs Bird has lost one other son in the war, viz., the late Sergt. Arthur Bird, of the Northants Regt., who was killed on September 14th 1914.
It is a sad coincidence that Pte William Bird was killed on his deceased brother’s birthday, viz. October 21st. The particulars, which have come to hand from unofficial sources, show that he went out on patrol duty on the night of October 21st, and was killed instantaneously by a shell.
The late Pte Bird, who was 34 years of age, joined up soon after the outbreak of war, and had once been wounded, in addition to sustaining frost-bitten feet. Before enlisting, he had worked all his life for Mr Owen Parker, boot manufacturer, Higham Ferrers.
Two other brothers are serving, viz., Sergt Edward Ekins Bird, of the Scottish Rifles, who has been so badly wounded that he is unfit for further duty in the trenches, and who is now guarding German prisoners in France, and Pte George Bird, of the Northants Regt., who is in the trenches on the Western Front, and who has also twice been wounded. The father, the late Mr George Bird, died on November 6th 1916.
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