Name
William Charles Plummer
1897
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
28/05/1916
17
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
4646
Hertfordshire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
LE TOURET MILITARY CEMETERY, RICHEBOURG-L'AVOUE
III. G. 1.
France
Headstone Inscription
REST IN PEACE
UK & Other Memorials
St John the Evangelist Church Memorial, Boxmoor,
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial,
John Dickinson & Co Memorial, Apsley Mills, Apsley,
Hertfordshire Regimental Memorial, All Saints Church, Hertford
Pre War
William Charles Plummer was born on 31 August 1897 in Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead, Herts, the son of Charles and Margaret Plummer, and the youngest of eight children. His father died in 1898, aged 41, and his mother remarried to George Gower on 25 December 1900.
On the 1901 Census he was 3 years old and living with his stepfather George, his mother Margaret and seven siblings at St John's Road, Boxmoor where his stepfather was working as a Bricklayer. William was educated at Boxmoor School from 1903 and left in 1910 just before his thirteen birthday.
The family remained in Boxmoor in 1911, living at 81 St John's Road, at which time William was working at John Dickinson & Co, paper manufacturers (Apsley Mills), on the Carrier Paper Ruling Machine.
His mother later lived at 29, Cowper Rd., Boxmoor, Herts.
Wartime Service
William was only seventeen at the outbreak of war, but he was granted permission by his employer, Dickinsons, to enlist, which he did in February 1915, and joined the 1st Battalion, Hertfordshire Regiment. He was sent to Newmarket, Suffolk for basic training and left for France on 17 August 1915.
He joined the Battalion at Beuvry, near Bethune a few days later and was soon in action at the Battle of Loos in September. The following year in late May the Battalion was in trenches at Festubert when he was killed in action on 28 May 1916 and is buried in Le Touret Military Cemetery, Richebourg-L,Avoue, France.
Additional Information
His mother, Mrs M Gower, 29 Cooper Road, Boxmoor, Herts., ordered his headstone inscription: "REST IN PEACE". She received a war gratuity of £5 and pay owing of 18s 4d. She also received a pension, initially of 4 shillings a week, rising to 5 shillings a week on 6 November 1918.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.dacorumheritage.org.uk, www.hemelatwar.org., www.hemelheroes.com.
