William Arthur Mould Temple

Memorial: Filton - Community Centre

Regiment: Gloucestershire Regiment

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

Rank and number: Captain

Parents: Brigadier Colonel Surgeon William Temple VC and Anne Theodosia Temple

Marital status: Married

Home address: The Priory, Filton, Bristol

Pre-war occupation: Career Soldier

Date of birth: 14/06/1872

Place of birth: Woolwich Arsenal

Date of death: 23/10/1914

Buried/Commemorated at: Buried at Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium. Commemorated on Filton Community Centre Memorial and Filton St Peter’s Memorial.

Age: 42

Further information:

William was born at Woolwich Arsenal, the eldest son of an Army Surgeon and a middle child of eleven children with seven sisters and three brothers.

After leaving school, William trained at the Royal Military College and in 1893 got his commission in the Army as 2nd Lieutenant. He married Rhoda Mary Hebe Hazeldine, the daughter of a JP and barrister from Shrewsbury, whilst he was serving in Calcutta in 1897. That same year he was promoted to Lieutenant. William fought in the Boer War for which he was awarded the Queen's Medal and in 1903 he was promoted to the rank of Captain. William and Rhoda’s daughter, Hazel Rhoda, was born in May 1908 and was six years old when her father died.

William and his battalion (the 1st, Glosters) were mobilised for war and landed at Havre in August 1914 where his Division engaged in various actions on the Western Front including the Battle of Mons and the subsequent retreat, The Battle of the Marne and The Battle of the Aisne. William died of wounds received during the First Battle of Ypres (19 Oct 1914 – 30 Nov 1914). The outcome of the battle was indecisive and resulted in 130,000 allied casualties. Lijssenthoek where William is buried, was the base for a casualty clearing station, where he would have been taken when he fell.

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/