Name
William Herbert Thurnham
10 December 1878
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
30/10/1920
41
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Sapper
2203580
Canadian Railway Troops
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Searched but not found
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
VANCOUVER (MOUNTAIN VIEW) CEMETERY
Jones 45. 21. 1.
Canada
Headstone Inscription
SERVED WITH HONOR IN THE WORLD WAR AND DIED IN THE SERVICE OF HIS COUNTRY
UK & Other Memorials
Not on the Hemel Hempstead memorials
Pre War
William Herbert Thurnham was born in Hemel Hempstead, Herts on 10 December 1878, the son of James and Annie Thurnham, and baptised there on 19 January 1879. He was one of 10 children.
On the 1881 Census the family were living at 3 Herbert Square, Hemel Hempstead, where his father was working as a 'Lake Farmer'.
On the 1891 Census he was a scholar at the St Mary Magdalene School in Westbourne Square, Paddington. His parents and siblings were still living at 3 Herbert Street where his father had changed occupations to be a 'Tax Collector'.
He emigrated to Canada on 21 March 1895 on the Parisian, a ship of the Allan Line, to Halifax, Canada. he gave his occupation as labourer.
He married Etta Mae Jefferson on 25 November 1909 in Vancouver and they lived at 4554 Eighth Ave, West Point Grey, British Columbia. He was working as a logger on enlistment.
Wartime Service
William enlisted into the Canadian Expeditionary Force on 3 May 1917 at Vancouver to serve in railway construction. He was 38 years old and recorded as 'FIT FOR FORESTRY OR R.R. CONSTRUCTION BATTALION ONLY'. He served with the Canadian Railway Troops.
After the war he returned home on the Olympic, leaving Southampton on 23 November 1918 and arriving in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada on 14 December 1918.
He died on 30 October 1920, aged 41, from a cerebral haemorrhage at Essondale Mental Hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is buried in Mountain View Cemetery (for Returned Soldiers).
Additional Information
His widow later lived at 527 East 1st Street, Long Beach, California, USA. Commemorated on page 554 of the Canadian First World War Book of Remembrance.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.bac-lac.ga.ca
