William Samuel Waterman

Memorial: Compton Greenfield, All Saints Church Memorial Window

Regiment: Dorsetshire Regiment

Medals: 1914–15 Star, British War Medal, Next of Kin Memorial Plaque 1914 - 1921, Silver War Badge, Victory Medal

Rank and number: Private 27327

Parents: Henry James and Emma Waterman

Marital status: Single

Home address: King's Weston, Gloucestershire

Pre-war occupation: Blacksmith

Date of birth: 1893

Place of birth: Stogumber, Somerset

Date of death: 01/08/1917

Buried/Commemorated at: Buried at Khadki, Maharashtra, India. Commemorated at Kirkee 1914-1918 Memorial, Poona, India and Easter Compton and Compton Greenfield Memorials

Age: 24

Further information:

William was born in Stogumber, Somerset the son of a labourer and a middle child of five with two sisters and two brothers, one of whom died as a child. In 1901 the family were living in Tormarton and by 1911 they had moved back to Somerset.

William's 2nd Battalion was stationed at Poona in August 1914 and in November was deployed to the Persian Gulf and landed at Fao. The battalion fought at Kut al Amara in April 1916 where many men were captured by the Turks, few surviving their captivity. In September 1916 the battalion was Deployed on the Tigris Defences and in January 1917 it transferred to the 9th Brigade of the 3rd Indian Division. William died in the Victoria Hospital Bombay. He was not recorded as having been wounded therefore it is likely that he succumbed to one of the many illnesses that afflicted the soldiers serving in the Asiatic Theatre of War. The Kirkee 1914-1918 Memorial where William is remembered commemorates more than 1800 servicemen and women who died in India during the First World War, who were buried in civil and cantonment cemeteries in India and Pakistan whose graves were considered to be unmaintainable after India gained its independence in 1947.

By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):

This information has been provided by Sarah Hands, Volunteer Researcher for the South Gloucestershire War Memorials Web Site.
By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):
https://www.cwgc.org/
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/
https://www.findmypast.co.uk/
https://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/