William Thomas Leonard
Memorial: South Gloucestershire war dead not on a local memorial
Regiment: The Welsh Regiment
Medals: 1914–15 Star, British War Medal, Next of Kin Memorial Plaque 1914 - 1921, Silver War Badge, Victory Medal
Rank and number: Private 59444
Parents: William Alfred and Alice Louisa Leonard
Home address: Home Address: 40 Edward Road, Brislington, Bristol. Lived: 53 Ridgeway Road, Fishponds, Bristol
Pre-war occupation: Painter
Date of birth: 21/04/1892
Place of birth: Kingswood, Bristol
Date of death: 27/07/1917
Buried/Commemorated at: Buried at New Irish Farm Cemetery, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium
Age: 25
Further information:
William was born in Kingswood the son of a bootmaker and the second eldest of seven children with four sisters and two brothers.
William enlisted in October 1915 as one of the Carmarthen Pals (15th Battalion, Welsh Regiment) and was mobilised to France in June 1917. He was 5' 7 ½ " tall and weighed 8 stone 3lb. William was posted to the Front on the 29th of June and was Killed in Action just four weeks later in the run up to the Battle of Passchendaele. His battalion were not engaged in a specific action at the time, so it is likely that William was killed during trench warfare which accounted for around 300 deaths per day throughout the war. William was buried near where he fell at Langemarck and was reburied in the New Irish Farm Cemetery after the armistice.
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/
Some information supplied by Kingswood Heritage Museum