Died May 1947, following injuries sustained on January 17th, 1941.
William was not injured in the ‘Bridport bombings’ of 1942, but he is recorded on the Commonwealth War Graves list of WW2 Civilian Casualties.
There were numerous bombs dropped along the Dorset coast and inland areas, as German flights overflew this area en-route to Bristol and other industrial centres further north and the total number of casualties in the County were greater than one would imagine. Records held by the Dorset Constabulary recorded the following:
- Killed – 280
- Seriously injured – 237
- Slightly injured – 358
It is almost certain that William fell victim to one of these bombs, although no individual record of such has been found at present.
William was not born locally. In 1893 he was born to father, John Louis and his wife, Annie Maria Dobson, in Chorlton, Manchester. John Louis was Belgian but met and married his wife in Ireland but like many families at the end of the 19th Century, left Ireland to find employment in Manchester – one of the unhealthiest places to live at that time.
In 1899, John and two of his children all died within months of one another.
Two years later, the 1901 Census records that William, (8) and his widowed mother were living in Rochdale, Annie working as a domestic servant in the home of Richard Butroyd – a boot and shoemaker.
William returned to Ireland and in 1911, was working on his uncle’s farm in Kilbride, Co. Wicklow. In 1917, William married Mary Copley in Dublin.
They had three sons – John Henry, Christopher, and William Alexander all of whom were born in Ireland. A fourth son William Alexander was born and died in 1923.
At some point after 1927, the family returned to England, and the 1939 Register shows them at Luccas Farm, on Powerstock Common. William was working as a Woodman and gamekeeper and Mary looked after the house. Two other people were living with them, but their records were closed – it can be assumed it was two of their sons. John Henry had joined the Royal Navy in 1938, so he would have been registered there.
Two years later, in 1941 two events changed the lives of the family irrevocably.
In January, William sustained the injuries that would lead to his death in 1947 and on December 10th of the same year, his son – Leading Stoker John Henry was lost on board HMS Repulse, aged just 21.
His younger brother, Christopher (15) wrote:
“We received the last letter from my brother dated the 4th of December 1941, I made several attempts to find out what happened to him but had no luck. I did receive a letter from a chap in Wales who knew my brother but didn’t know what had happened to him.”
William left his effects to his wife Mary and son, Christopher.