Name
William Davey
10 May 1884
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
11/07/1916
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
7288
Bedfordshire Regiment
2nd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star, British War and Victory Medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
QUARRY CEMETERY, MONTAUBAN
I. G. 4.
France
Headstone Inscription
None
UK & Other Memorials
Berkhamsted Town Memorial, St Peter's Church Memorial, Berkhamsted, Tring Town Memorial, St Peter & St Paul Church Roll of Honour, Tring
Pre War
William Davey was born in Berkhamsted (possibly Tring) on 10 May 1884, the son of Charles and Elizabeth Davey and baptised in Tring on 17 August 1890.
On the 1891 Census William was living with his aunt and uncle, Henry and Eunice Adams. By 1901 he was with his widowed mother at which time his mother was working as a charwoman and William was working as a farm labourer.
He married Elizabeth Dealey in 23 January 1909 in Tring, Herts and on the 1911 Census he was living at 3 Alma Place, Frogmore Street, Tring with his wife and three children. He was then working as a sewage labourer and his wife was working in a marine stores.
The eldest children, Stanley (born 1904) and sister Ethel, (born 1908) were born before the marriage. They had a further two daughters Alice (born 1910) and Ellen (born 1914).
His widow gave her address as 8 The Wilderness, Berkhamsted on pension records.
Wartime Service
William's service number suggests that he had enlisted with the Bedfordshire Regiment between July 1902 and August 1903 and was a reserve soldier at the outbreak of war, particularly as he was sent to France as early as 26 August 1914.
He served with the 2nd Battalion and was reported missing, believed killed in action on 11 July 1916 at Trones Wood during the Battle of the Somme. His body was recovered at the end of the war and reinterred in Quarry Cemetery, Montauban, France.
Additional Information
His widow, Elizabeth, received a war gratuity of £4 10s 0d and pay owing of £1 18s 11d. She also received a pension of 12s 6d a week for herself and her children, rising to £1 6s 3d.
In 1917 Elizabeth remarried to Walter Sells, a soldier with the 7th Bedfords, and received a gratuity of £35 15s.
William's brother, Arthur, also served in the Bedfordshire Regiment, enlisting on 20 August 1914 but was discharged on 7 March 1917 as being no longer physically fit for war service. having suffered a gun shot wound to the spine in July 1916.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild
