John William Streets (24 March 1886 – 1 July 1916), better known as Will Streets, was an English soldier and poet of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. Streets was born in Whitwell, Derbyshire, the son of William and Clara Streets, and was the eldest of twelve children. Although academically and artistically gifted, he began work as a miner at the age of fourteen, continuing to educate himself in his spare time. In August 1914, Streets joined the Sheffield City Battalion (Sheffield Pals). In late 1915 and early 1916 he served in Egypt. The battalion was subsequently transferred to the Western Front. Streets, by this time a sergeant, was wounded on the first day of the

Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme (French language, French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. I ...

, and subsequently went missing. His body was eventually recovered exactly ten months later, on 1 May 1917, and he is buried at Euston Road Cemetery, Colincamps, France. His poems were posthumously published in the same year under the title ''The Undying Splendour''.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Streets, Will 1886 births 1910s missing person cases 1916 deaths 20th-century male writers British Army personnel of World War I British military personnel killed in the Battle of the Somme British World War I poets Formerly missing people Missing in action of World War I Missing person cases in France People from Whitwell, Derbyshire York and Lancaster Regiment soldiers Military personnel from Derbyshire

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