Name
William Henry Maxted
2 July 1899
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
17/12/1918
19
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lieutenant
Royal Air Force
3rd. Sqdn
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Searched but not found
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
ETAPLES MILITARY CEMETERY
XLV. A. 12.
France
Headstone Inscription
GOD GAVE AND HE HATH TAKEN HIM FROM US YET ONLY FOR A TIME
UK & Other Memorials
Not on the Hemel Hempstead memorials, Temple Ewell War Memorial, Kent
Pre War
William Henry Maxted was born on 2 July 1899 in Hemel Hempstead, Herts, the son of James and Minnie Maxted, and baptised at St Paul's Hemel Hempstead, on 20 August 1899.
On the 1901 Census the family were living at 97 High Street, Hemel Hempstead, where his father was working as a grocer on his own account. They remained there in 1911 and William was an 11 year old scholar.
Wartime Service
He enlisted in 1917 into the Royal Air Force and served as a 2nd Lieutenant with 3 Squadron, scoring five victories flying a Sopwith Camel in the autumn of 1918.
He was killed in a flying accident whilst on target practice in France on 17 December 1918, age 19, and is buried at Etaples Military Cemetery, France.
Additional Information
His father, James S Maxted, Yard Farm House, Lyminge, Kent. , ordered his headstone inscription: "GOD GAVE AND HE HATH TAKEN HIM FROM US YET ONLY FOR A TIME". Probate was granted to his father on 6 January 1919 with effects of £868 8s 4d. His father received pay owing of £5 14s. Despite having been born and raised in Hemel Hempstead, his name does not appear on the Town Memorial or any local church memorials, however he is named on the Temple Ewell memorial, Kent, along with four other soldiers with the Maxted surname.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.theaerodrome.com, dacorumheritage.org.uk, www.roll-of-honour.com
