Name
William George Carrington
1890
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
11/11/1917
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
9471
Bedfordshire Regiment
2nd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star, British War and Victory Medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
KEMMEL CHATEAU MILITARY CEMETERY
X. 61.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
None
UK & Other Memorials
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial, St Mary's Church Memorial, Hemel Hempstead
Pre War
William George Carrington was born in 1890 in Hemel Hempstead, Herts, the son of Mary Ann Carrington, and baptised at St Paul's Hemel Hempstead on 14 July 1890. On the 1891 Census, he and his mother were living with his grandmother Lavinia Freeman at 3 Gosnold's Yard, Hemel Hempstead.
His mother married William Ansell in 1893 in Hemel Hempstead and they had a further seven children.
On the 1901 Census he was living with his mother and stepfather, William Ansell, and siblings at 8 Queen Street, Hemel Hempstead, where his stepfather was working as a Wheelwright's labourer and his mother was a ragsorter at the paper factory. William Ansell's widowed mother lived with them and presumably looked after the children.
When William left school he initially worked at the paper mill in Apsley but in September 1905 tried to enlist with the Bedfordshire Militia, giving his age as 17 years and 3 months when he was only 15, however he was unfit and was rejected. He tried again a year later and succeeded, signing on for 6 years with the Bedfordshire Regiment but was discharged on 14 January 1907 after 4 months, probably when his correct age of 16 was discovered. He then went to work at Apsley Mills as a general labourer for John Dickinson & Co Ltd.
By the 1911 Census, William had successfully joined the army, and was listed as a Private serving with the 2nd Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment in Bermuda.
His parents remained at 8 Queen Street, Hemel Hempstead.
Wartime Service
He was a serving soldier with the 2nd Bedfordshire Regiment at the outbreak of war when the battalion was in South Africa. They were immediately recalled to England, landing at Southampton on 19 September 1914. They left Southampton on 5 October on board the S S Winifredian, stopping for supplies at Dover. and landed in Zeebrugge on 7 October 1914. They were engaged in the Battle of Ypres later the same year and took part in many battles in the next two years, including the Battles of Neuve Chappelle, Festubert, Givenchy and Loos. He was also in action in the Somme Offensive.
He was granted home leave in July 1917 and returned home to visit family and friends in Hemel Hempstead, returning to the front on 28 July.
When the Battalion were in Hollebeke, south of Ypres, he was killed by a shell which landed in his dug-out on 11 November 1917. He died instantaneously and is buried at Kemmel Chateau Military Cemetery, Belgium, having served in the army for 8 years.
Additional Information
His mother received a war gratuity of £19 and pay owing of £4 13s 9d. She also received a pension of 5 shillings a week. N.B. William is recorded twice on the Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial, once as William Carrington and again as William Ansell (his stepfather's surname).
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, dacorumheritage.org.uk., hemelatwar.org. www.hemelheroes.com, www.bedfordregiment.org.uk/2ndbn
