Name
William Henry (Harry) Bonaker (DCM)
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
30/12/1916
44
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Quartermaster Serjeant
T/184
Royal Army Ordnance Corps
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Distinguished Conduct Medal
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
BAGHDAD (NORTH GATE) WAR CEMETERY
XXI. J. 27.
Iraq
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Not on the Abbots Langley memorials, Not on the Kings Langley memorials, Not on the Watford memorials
Biography
William Bonaker (also known as Harry) was not included in the Abbots Langley Parish Magazine Roll of Honour until his death was announced, and was not listed on the Abbots Langley War Memorial. He was born in Kings Langley in the winter of 1873, but was not recorded in that village either. In the 1881 Census the Bonaker family lived at Temple Villas, Abbots Langley, and ten years later had moved to Adrian Road. At that time William was employed as a Mechanical Engineer. His parents, John, a Saddler, and Louisa had eight children, six boys and two girls. Two sons, Charles and Hugh served in the Great War with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, having emigrated around 1910. William married Maud Thwaites at Luton on 27th April 1893 and by the time of the 1901 Census had moved away from the family home.
It is not known when William Bonaker joined up, or how and when he was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal. By 1916 he had risen to the rank of Quarter Master Sergeant in the Royal Army Ordinance Corps, and was serving in the Middle East. He was taken Prisoner of War by the Turks when they surrounded the British garrison at Kut (in modern day Iraq). After a siege the British garrison surrendered on 29th April 1916. The prisoners were marched 700 miles back to camps at Anatolia (Turkey). Of 11,800 men that marched out of Kut on 6th May 1916, 4,250 died either en route or during their captivity at the camps.
William Bonaker’s Probate Record indicated that he died on 30th December 1916 at the Afrion Hisser camp in Turkey. The Abbots Langley Parish Magazine recorded his death in the March 1917 edition.
“We also very much regret the loss of another, who, although his name has not appeared on our Roll of Honour, was in time past closely connected with this Parish. Quarter Master Sergeant Harry Bonaker died as a Turkish Prisoner on December 30th. He had been shut up in Kut during the siege, and at its fall was taken prisoner. Tidings were afterwards received of him, but at last there came the news of his death in captivity. May God grant to the relatives of those who have fallen, his consolations”.
It is unknown why William was not recorded in the records of Abbots or Kings Langley, however at the time of his death his wife, Maud, was recorded by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission living in Ilford, Essex, so maybe his connection with the Abbots Langley area was tenuous by the time of the Great War, and he may possibly be recorded in that part of the country. His brothers Charles and Hugh served with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. Both survived the War.
William Bonaker was commemorated in the Baghdad (North Gate) War Cemetery.
Additional Information
Died as Prisoner of War
Acknowledgments
Roger Yapp - www.backtothefront.org
