Name
William Henry Douglas
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
03/10/1918
26
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Gunner
71234
Royal Field Artillery
101st Battery
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War Medal
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
DELHI MEMORIAL (INDIA GATE)
Face 1Buried in Quetta Govt. Cem. XXVII. 2797.
India
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Rickmansworth Urban District Memorial,
St. Peter’s Church Memorial, Mill End, Nr Rickmansworth
St. Peter's C & E Primary School Memorial, Mill End,
St. Mary's Church Memorial, Harefield
Pre War
William was born in Harefield in 1892 the son of George and Jane (nee Carter) Douglas. His father was a General Labourer. On the 1901 census he was with his grandparents, John and Marya Douglas, at Copper Mill, Harefield, while his parents were at Hill End, Harefield with four more children and William’s Great Grandmother Mary Ann Burton age 85. In 1911 William is recorded twice – in Summer House Lane, Harefield with his Grandmother Mary Ann Douglas, but also in Hill End, Harefield with his Great-grandmother Mary Ann Burton, now 95, his parents, and five siblings.
On enlistment William was said to be 5’ 8 5/8” tall, weighed 139 pounds, fresh complexion, grey eyes, brown hair. He had RM tattooed on his left forearm and an anchor and butterfly on the back of his left hand. This suggests he may have been in the marines or navy for a while even though he was only 20 years and 10 months old.
He is recorded as enlisting in to the 3rd RFA Depot, London.
Wartime Service
After enlisting in London William joined at Preston on the 6th of January 1913, posted as a Gunner to 54th RFA on the 5th of March 1913 and to 101st RFA on the 20th of January 1914.
He died from bronchopneumonia at the Station Hospital, Quetta, India at 6.45am on the 3rd of October 1918. He had previously contracted malaria towards the end of 1914.
Acknowledgments
Malcolm Lennox, Tanya Britton, Mike Collins
