Name
William Arthur Eames
1889
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
15/09/1916
26
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lance Corporal
12546
Coldstream Guards
3rd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
SERRE ROAD CEMETERY No.2
XIX. F. 9.
France
Headstone Inscription
None
UK & Other Memorials
Shenley War Memorial,
Crayford Manor War Memorial, Kent
Pre War
William Arthur Eames was born on 21 October 1889 in Islington, Middx, the son of 19 year old Emma Eames. She was unmarried and William was initially cared for by Arthur and Mary Pearson at 39 Twyford Road, Islington and listed as a 'nurse child' on the 1891 Census. Meanwhile, his mother worked as a live-in servant in the household of veterinary surgeon Anthony Stainton and his wife Maria. Emma's sister Eliza also worked there. He had a younger brother Cecil born in 1893.
On the 1901 Census William and his brother Cecil were living with their maternal grandparents, Daniel and Elizabeth Eames, at Tyttenhanger Green, but were listed as their sons.
At some point William worked as a gardener at Shenley Grange for John Charrington, Chairman of Carrington, Gardner, Locket & Co, Coal and Coke Merchants, and was a lodger at the home of William and Elizabeth Cole in London Road, Shenley. He later lived in Kent, whilst working for Stephen White, a Lloyds Underwriter and Insurance Broker, who lived in Oakwood House in Crayford, Kent.
After having enlisted in the army at the outbreak of war, he returned to Hertfordshire to marry Mary Elizabeth Cole, the daughter of William and Elizabeth Cole with whom he had lodged whilst working at Shenley Grange. They married on 16 November 1915 at St Botolph's Church, Shenleybury, Hertfordshire while he was home on seven days' leave, having served the previous ten months at the front. Mary was then living in Hendon, having been in service in Hendon before the war and working at the Grahame-White Aviation Company factory manufacturing aircraft during the war.
Wartime Service
He initially enlisted in Erith, Kent on 3 September 1914 and joined the 4th Home Counties (Howitzer) Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery, but shortly afterwards went to Chatham, Kent with his friend Albert Gilson (also named on the Shenley Memorial) and they both enlisted into the Coldstream Guards. William served as Lance Corporal in France from 9 December 1915.
William was killed in action on 15 September 1916 aged 26, and is buried in Serre Road Cemetery No. 2, France.
Additional Information
His widow received a war gratuity of £8 10s and pay owing of £5 5s 3d. She also received a pension of 13 9d a week, giving her address on pension records as 1 Brampton Grove, Hendon, NW. Mary's brother William Cole served with the London Regiment and was killed in action two days after her husband. He is also named on the Shenley Memorial. Mary remarried in 1925 to William Giles and lived at 26 Preston Gardens, Willesden, London.
Brother Cecil enlisted in early 1916, serving with the Army Service Corps but was discharged in November 1917 as no longer fit for military service due to a pre-existing disability. He died in 1929 aged 35.
Acknowledgments
Taff Williams, Brenda Palmer
shenleyww1.wordpress.com, www.rafmuseum.org.uk,
