Name
William Albert Baines
9 April 1890
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
16/11/1918
30
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
49791
Devonshire Regiment
13th (Works) Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Searched but not found
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
NUNHEAD (ALL SAINTS) CEMETERY
Screen Wall. 23. 5551.
United Kingdom
Headstone Inscription
None
UK & Other Memorials
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial
Pre War
William Albert Baines was born in Bermondsey, Surrey on 9 April 1890 the son of William and Mary Baines.
He attended Munster Road School, Hammersmith and Fulham from 31 August 1896 and the family were then living at 39 Burnfoot Avenue.
On the 1911 Census he was living as a boarder at 4 Somerleyton Road, Brixton, London and working as an Estate Agent's Clerk.
He married Jessie Josephine Martin on 20 February 1916 at Christ Church, Bermondsey, Southwark, London and was living at 161 Abbey Street, Bermondsey on enlistment and working as a glazier.
His widow later lived at 28 Parfitt Road, South Bermondsey and remarried to Frederick Horton in 1924 in Southwark.
Wartime Service
William attested at Rotherhithe, London on 24 February 1916 and a medical report on 30 March 1916 suggested he was fit for service at home but not abroad. He was said to be "always feeling pains somewhere". He was posted on 1 September 1916 to the 24th Training Reserve Battalion, the 29th Btn Middlesex Regiment on 21 September and the 13th Btn Devon Regiment on 23 December 1916. Lastly he was sent to the Southern Command Labour Centre. Labour Corps on 30 June 1917.
He died at Reading War Hospital on 16 November 1918, of influenza and pneumonia contracted while on active service, although a note from the hospital on his service record states "this man's death was due to pneumonia supervening on influenza and was not caused or aggravated by military service".
He is buried at Nunhead Cemetery, Peckham, Surrey.
Additional Information
His widow received a war gratuity of £10 and a pension of 13s 9d a week. This soldier's connection with Hemel Hempstead is not known.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild. hemelatwar.org.
