William had initially joined the Army, enlisting in the Army Service Corps in January 1905 as a boiler maker and riveter, having previously been an apprentice for six years at the L & SW Railway works in Wimbledon. he married Elizabeth Jane Pope at Wandsworth Register Office on the 24th July 1905.
 |
| Army Service Corps Cap Badge and shoulder title |
He completed his three years service in 1908 being based in Aldershot and was put onto the reserve list. William and Elizabeth had four children Lillie, William, Ivy and Dorothy. Their first child also called William died in infancy, Dorothy was only four months old when William was mobilised on the 6th August 1914.
The family were living at 6, Leyton Road, Wimbledon at the outbreak of war, having previously lived at 5, Goodenough Street, Wimbledon where in 1911 William listed his occupation as a house painter. William was 35 when he set of for World War One, 5 feet 4 1/4 inches tall, fair complexion, blue eyes and brown hair. He had a small tattoo mark on the back of his right forearm and a 1/2 inch long linear scar above his right eyebrow.
He set sail from Liverpool on the 8th August 1914 and disembarked at Rouen on the 18th August. In the Mechanical Transport Depot of the Army Service Corps.
Tony
