Name
Maxwell Henry Williams
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
19/09/1917
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Second Lieutenant
London Regiment *1
17th (County of London) Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
VLAMERTINGHE NEW MILITARY CEMETERY
V. G. 6.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
St Edmunds College Memorial, Old Hall Green
Biography
The following text was transcribed from the The Edmundian (1814-1819) – The contemporary magazine of St Edmund’s College:
A joint obituary, with Maxwell's brother Stuart was printed.
Stuart and Max Williams, the second and third sons of the late W. Secombe Williams of Weddel Island, the Falklands, came to the College from Mount St. Mary's with their brother Douglas in 1909. They very soon won a place in College life, Stuart because of his prominence in cricket and football, Max for his unfailing goad temper, smiling face, and sense of fun.
Each in his own way was a typical school boy, with the additional grace of a real religious spirit which served them to the end. The night before Stuart died he was among his men, asking the Catholics about their reception of the Sacraments. He had joined the Hampshire Carabiniers early in the war, going through the experiences, common enough since 1914, of obeying men he had commanded on the cricket field. After several disappointments, not the least of which was the refusal of a commission in a particular regiment because he was a Catholic, when unabashed he spoke his mind to the officer refusing it, he was commissioned in February of this year to the Household Battalion, went to France in March, and was unofficially reported killed On May 3rd.
Max left the College in Dec. 1913, and continued his studies at St. Paul's School, where he joined the O.T.C. He passed through the Artists' Rifles, was commissioned to the London Regiment last May. Happy to the end he said good-bye to his people with a smile on his lips in June. Like Stuart he did not serve long. A rest from the front line trenches came and he was killed instantaneously by a shell that struck his tent. So passed another of the many thousands that have died victims of forces beyond their control, happy only in their devotion to God and Country. They leave gaps that will not be filled in our own time.
Not the least tragedy connected with these two was that their mother had only lust gone through the agony of losing the father. Mr. Williams died on May 3rd, the very day that Stuart was reported killed. To her particularly, stricken so deeply in so short a time, we offer our sympathy and prayers.
Additional Information
*1 Believed more correctly, (County of London) Bn. London Regiment (Poplar and Stepney Rifles).
Acknowledgments
Jonty Wild, Di Vanderson, The Edmundian (1814-1819) – The contemporary magazine of St Edmund’s College
