Name
William Victor North
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
02/04/1918
20
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
328631
Suffolk Regiment
2nd/6th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
BUSHEY (ST. JAMES) CHURCHYARD
Grave II at south end.
United Kingdom
Headstone Inscription
IN LOVE HE LIVED IN LOVE HE DIED
UK & Other Memorials
Watford Borough Roll of Honour, St James’ Church Memorial, Bushey, St Matthew’s Church Memorial, Oxhey, Wesleyan Methodist (now Bushey & Oxhey) Church Memorial, Oxhey
Pre War
Born in Watford in 1896 and baptised on 21 October 1904 at St Matthew’s, Oxhey, William Victor North was the younger son of Edward and Mercy Jane (nee Day) North. His parents were married on 16 November 1895 at St Mathew’s Church in Oxhey, Watford. Mercy died, aged 82, in 1956 in the registration district of Hemel Hempstead, Herts.
At the 1901 Census, William was 3 years old and living with his parents and 5-year-old brother, Sidney Edward, at 53 Lower Paddock Road, Oxhey. His father is 25 years old and working as a labourer in a gas factory and his mother is 27 years old. The birthplaces are given as Winslow in Buckinghamshire for Edward, Hatfield Broad Oak in Essex for Mercy and Bushey in Hertfordshire for the two brothers.
At the 1911 Census, the family was still at the same address and William is at school. His father is now working as a gas stoker in a gas company’s works and Sidney is a roundsman with a fishmonger. William now also has a sister, Sybil Mercia, who is 5 years old. Her birthplace is Bushey, the same as her brothers. Also present is a 28-year-old border, John Chamberlain, who is working as a gardener for a florist. He was born in Fiskerton in Nottinghamshire.
Wartime Service
William volunteered in 1915, enlisting in Shoreditch, London, initially as Private 4187 in the London Regiment before being later transferred to the Suffolk Regiment, serving as Private 328631 in the 6th Battalion.
After training, he served at various stations before being drafted to France in 1917, but was invalided home shortly afterwards. He died at home of pneumonia, aged 20, on 2 April 1918 and was buried in in Grave 11 at the southern end of Bushey (St James’) churchyard. The inscription on his headstone reads: “IN LOVE HE LIVED IN LOVE HE DIED”.
He is also commemorated on the memorials at St Matthew’s Church, Oxhey and at Bushey & Oxhey Methodist Church. He was entitled to the Victory and British War medals.
He has a joint pension card with his brother Sidney, who served with the Royal Engineers and died on 30 September 1918, which names his mother as the dependant and awards a combined pension of 10 shillings per week with effect from 6 November 1918.
There is a Death announcement for William in the West Herts and Watford Observer dated 13 April 1918, and an In Memoriam in the issue dated 5 April 1919.
Additional Information
Dianne Payne - www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk, Jonty Wild, Sue Carter (Research) and Watford Museum (ROH on line via www.ourwatfordhistory.org.uk), Paul Johnson
Acknowledgments
Andrew Palmer
Sue Carter (Research) and Watford Museum (ROH on line via www.ourwatfordhistory.org.uk), Dianne Payne - www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk, Jonty Wild
