Name
William Bates
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
14/05/1918
34
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
29883
Bedfordshire Regiment
7th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
HAUTMONT COMMUNAL CEMETERY
Plot I, Row A, Grave 6.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Watford Borough Roll of Honour, St James' Church Memorial, Watford Fields, Bushey Memorial, Clay Hill, St James’ Church Memorial, Bushey, St Paul's Church Memorial, Bushey
Pre War
Son of William and Sarah (nee COX) BATES; husband of Frances (nee BLINKHORN) BATES.
His parents married 26 February 1881 at St Mary’s, Amersham, Bucks. Sarah died 1931 in Watford aged 68, and was buried 31 October in Vicarage Road Cemetery, Watford; William died 1943 in Watford aged 81, and was buried 3 August, also in Vicarage Road Cemetery.
William was born 1884 in Amersham, and baptised 13 January 1884 at St Mary’s, Amersham. He married 1914 at St Mary’s, Eccles, Lancs, and resided in Watford. Frances never remarried and died 1970 in the Watford district aged 89.
On the 1891 Census, aged 7 he lived in Latimer Village, Bucks, with his parents and one sibling. On the 1901 Census, a builder’s carter aged 18, he lived in Watford, with his parents and four siblings. On the 1911 Census, he is possibly the bricklayer’s labourer aged 27, a lodger in Kilburn, Middx.
Prior to enlisting, William Bates was resident in the family home at 55 Vale Road, Bushey.
Wartime Service
He enlisted in Bedford in June 1916 as Private 29883 with the 7th Battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment.
He was drafted to the Western Front in November 1916 and took part in some important engagements, including those of the Somme, Ypres and Cambrai.
He died at a War Hospital in Hautmont, Germany, a prisoner-of-war.
He is remembered with honour at Hautmont Communal Cemetery, grave reference I. A. 6., and is commemorated on the Bushey Memorial and at St James’ Parish Church and at St Paul’s in Bushey
Additional Information
There is a Death announcement for William in the West Herts and Watford Observer dated 4 January 1919; plus an In Memoriam in the issue dated 17 May 1919. His pension record shows his mother, Frances Bates, as the dependant living at the Vale Road, Bushey address. He was wounded and taken prisoner and died of his injuries on 14 May 1918.
Acknowledgments
Andrew Palmer
Dianne Payne - www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk, Jonty Wild, Sue Carter (Research) and Watford Museum (ROH on line via www.ourwatfordhistory.org.uk)
