Name
William Windmill
1895
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
01/10/1918
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Gunner
170933
Royal Field Artillery
72nd Bde
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
SUNKEN ROAD CEMETERY, BOISLEUX-ST. MARC
III. B. 17
France
Headstone Inscription
None
UK & Other Memorials
St Albans Citizens Memorial, Town Hall (old) Memorial, St Albans, Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial
Pre War
William Windmill was born in St Albans in 1895, the only son of William and Sarah Windmill and baptised at Christchurch, St Albans on 13 October 1895. He was their only son and they also had a daughter, Hannah, but William's cousin Edith Pointer also lived with them and seems to have been raised by William's parents.
On the 1901 Census the family were living at 18 Portland Street, St Albans where his father was working as a Plasterer. By 1911 they had moved to 14 Mount Street, St Albans and William was working as a Plasterer's Apprentice (probably with his father who was then described as a Master Plasterer).
He married Gertrude Elizabeth Huckle in the spring of 1916 in St Albans, but they only had a few days together before he was sent to France. She gave her address as 14 Harley Street, St Albans. (Pension records show that she later lived at Woodlands, London Road, St Albans, and Leverstock Green, Hemel Hempstead.)
Wartime Service
William volunteered in October 1914 at Hertford and joined the Royal Field Artillery, being posted for training at Larkhill, Wiltshire (Salisbury Plain) with the 72nd Brigade, a Howitzer unit. Training to operate a Howitzer took more than a year and he was not sent to France until early 1916.
He fought in the Battle of the Somme, the Battle of Pozieres and Battle of Flers-Courcelette during 1916, and the Arras Offensive, Pilckem Ridge and Langemark phases of the 3rd Battle of Ypres in October and November of 1917.
1918 brought more action in the Battles of Amiens, Albert, Bapaume and Mont St Quentin, but in late September he was wounded in action near Contalmaison and died of his wounds on 1 October 1918, aged 23. He is buried at Sunken Road Cemetery, Boisleux-St.Marc, France.
Additional Information
His widow received a war gratuity of £18 10s and pay owing of £9 3s 2d. She also received a pension of 13 9d a week. Probate of William's estate was granted to his father on 12 December 1918 with effects of £109 9s. William seemingly had no connection with Hemel Hempstead, but his widow lived in Leverstock Green, near Hemel Hempstead, after their marriage and must have asked for his name to be included on the town memorial. She remarried in 1920 in Frimley Surrey to James Garner, a widower and serving member of the RFA.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Gareth Hughes, www.dacorumheritrage.org.uk, www.hemelatwar.org., www.hemelheroes.com
