William H Payne
Memorial: Kingswood - Holy Trinity Church
Regiment: Canadian Infantry
Medals: British War Medal, Next of Kin Memorial Plaque 1914 - 1921, Victory Medal
Rank and number: Private 418178
Parents: George and Mary Payne
Home address: 6 Bank Road, Kingswood, Bristol
Date of birth: 1896
Place of birth: Bitton, Bristol
Date of death: 19/08/1916
Buried/Commemorated at: No known burial site but commemorated at Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium and Kingswood Holy Trinity Memorial
Age: 20
Further information:
William was born in Bitton, the son of a chimney sweep and the second youngest of five children with two sisters and two brothers.
William emigrated to Canada in 1914 and joined C Company, 42nd Battalion, Canadian Infantry, his battalion when it was founded in Montreal in 1915. He and his battalion were mobilised to France that October 1915. On 8th July 1916 William was listed as wounded and awarded a wound stripe. He was killed in action just 5 weeks later but not in a major battle. The site of the Menin Gate, where William is remembered, was chosen because of the hundreds of thousands of men who passed through it on their way to the battlefields. It commemorates casualties from the forces of Australia, Canada, India, South Africa and United Kingdom who died in the Ypres Salient.
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/