William Brown

Memorial: Kingswood - Holy Trinity Church

Regiment: Somerset Light Infantry

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

Rank and number: Private 29820

Parents: Alfred and Lydia Brown

Home address: Melbourne Terrace, Bristol

Date of birth: 1899

Place of birth: St. Philips and St. Jacobs, Bristol

Date of death: 19/06/1918

Buried/Commemorated at: Buried at Sucrerie Cemetery, Ablain-St. Nazaire, Pas de Calais, France and commemorated on Kingswood Holy Trinity Memorial

Age: 19

Further information:

William was born in St. Philips and St. Jacobs, Bristol, the son of a carter for the Railway Company and the youngest child of eight with four sisters and three brothers.

William would have enlisted on his 18th birthday in 1916 and it is likely that he would have fought with the 7th battalion in various actions on the Western Front including Battles of Arras, Ypres and The Somme. On the day of his death William’s battalion were not involved in a specific battle, so it is likely that he died during the ongoing trench warfare that accounted for 300 soldier deaths per day. On his death he left all of his effects to his older sister Rosa Gitsham who was living with her family in Kingswood.

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/