Name
William George Dorrofield (MM)
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
04/11/1918
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Serjeant
R/33836
King’s Royal Rifle Corps
13th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Military Medal
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
ROMERIES COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION
V. A. 5.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Croxley Green Village Memorial, Croxley Green, All Saints' Church Shrine, Croxley Green, John Dickinson & Co Memorial, Croxley Mill, Croxley Green, Rickmansworth Urban District Memorial
Pre War
William’s birth was registered in Watford district in the fourth quarter of 1897 and, according to the 1911 census, he was born in Croxley. He would have been about 21 when he died.
William was the second of the seven children (in 1911) of William and Rose Charlotte Dorrofield. The family lived at 246 New Road and William senior was a water cress grower. William junior is remembered on the Dickinson memorial so must have worked for the John Dickinson company before enlisting.
Recorded as enlisting in Hammersmith, London.
Wartime Service
R/33836, Sergeant, 13th King’s Royal Rifle Corps, formerly 17th King’s Royal Rifle Corps with the same service number.
He died of wounds in the 48th Field Ambulance at Solesmes, north east of Cambrai on 4th November 1918. He had been awarded the Military Medal when serving as a Corporal with the 13th KRRC. From 17th October 1918 his unit was involved as part of the 37th Division in the battle of the Selle during the final advance in Picardy.
William was entitled to a war gratuity of £17 and the army paid his mother £25 12s 10d.
Acknowledgments
Tanya Britton, Brian Thomson Croxley Green in the First World War Rickmansworth Historical Society 2014
