Name
William James Hawkins
22/09/1896
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
05/04/1918
22
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
33618
Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry
5th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
TERLINCTHUN BRITISH CEMETERY, WIMILLE
XVII.F.1.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Benington War Memorial, St. Peter’s Church Roll of Honour, Benington, St Albans Citizens Memorial, Town Hall (old) Memorial, St Albans
Pre War
William was born on the 22nd September 1896, the son of Charles and Emma Hawkins of Old School Green, Benington and enlisted in the Hertfordshire Regiment (5825) on the 13th November 1915.
Wartime Service
He embarked for France on the 5th July 1916 and was transferred to the 6th Battalion of the Royal Berkshire Regiment on the 7th September 1916. William was then posted to the 6th Battalion of the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry on the 10th September 1917 and his Service Number changed to 33618. His last leave was from the 26th October to 6th November 1917. He was transferred to the 5th Battalion of the same Regiment on the 10th February 1918.
William was wounded and taken prisoner at Moyancourt on the 21st March 1918, the first day of the German Spring Offensive on the Western Front. His POW card states that he had been "shot in the bottom". Care for British prisoners varied dramatically, so it is difficult to understand what level of treatment he was provided with. He died at 3.45pm on the afternoon of the 5th April 1918 from gunshot wounds at the Charleville War Hospital near Limburg in Germany, after being held for only two weeks. He was originally buried in the Hospital Grounds in Grave 617 but at the end of the war was reburied in the Terlincthun British Cemetery, Wimille, France.
An article in the Hertfordshire Express in August 1918 reports how his parents had many anxious weeks of waiting to hear news of their son after he was first reported missing on 21st of March before hearing from the War Office that he had died while a prisoner of war.
Address also given as Folly Lane, St Albans.
Additional Information
www.stevenageatwar.com SWB & MIC = 06/12/1915 - Enlisted - 13/08/1919 - Discharged KR 392(xvi) Death registered December 1919 - N/T deceased online or HB&M or FAG.
Acknowledgments
Jonty Wild, Derry Warners
Paul Johnson, Gareth Hughes
