Name
William Harold Rosson
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
18/06/1915
18
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
T.F.3782
Duke of Cambridge’s Own (Middlesex Regiment)
1st/7th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
MERVILLE COMMUNAL CEMETERY
III. K. 8.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Bushey Town Memorial, St Peter’s Church Memorial, Bushey Heath
Pre War
Born in 1896, William Harold Rosson was one of nine children, two of whom died in childhood, that were born to Joseph and Kate (nee Cato) Rosson. At the 1891 Census, Joseph was employed as a domestic coachman and was boarding with the Smith family at Caldecote Cottage, Caldecote Hill in Aldenham. He married Kate Cato later that year on 16 July in Aldenham, Hertfordshire.
At the 1901 Census, William was four years old and living with his parents and four sisters at 3 Myrtle Cottages in Harrow Weald. Joseph, a domestic coachman, was 40 years old and Kate was 36 years old. William’s sisters were called Alice Elfrida, Bertha Kate, Gladys Georgina and Ella Maude, and they were 7, 6, 3 and 1 years old respectively. The birthplaces are given as Watford for Joseph, Kirtlington in Oxfordshire for Kate and Bushey Heath for all of the children.
By the time of the 1911 Census, the family had moved to Hive Road in Harrow Weald. Alice was no longer living with the family, but William, who was now aged 15, had another sister, Evelyn Minnie, and a brother, Frederick John. They were 9 and 4 years old respectively and their birthplace was also Bushey Heath. Joseph was now employed as a domestic butler, Gladys was a domestic housemaid and William was a domestic under-gardener. The other four children were all at school.
Wartime Service
William enlisted on 8 August 1914 in Willesden, Middlesex (Territorial Force) as Private 3782 with the Duke of Cambridge’s Own (Middlesex) Regiment. He served initial with 9th Battalion before being attached later to the 1/7th Battalion and serving on the western front, where he died of wounds on 18 June 1915. He was entitled to the Victory, British and 15 Star medals. He is commemorated on the Bushey Memorial and at St Peter’s Church, Bushey Heath.
The Register of Soldiers’ Effects names Joseph as the legatee and shows two separate payments of £3 9s. 8d. and £3 0s. 0d.
There is an entry for William in De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour which reads: ROSSON, WILLIAM HAROLD, Private, No. 3782, 9th, attd. 1/7th, Battn. Middlesex Regt. (T.F.), eldest s. of Joseph Rosson, of The Cottage, Kestrel Grove, Bushey Heath, Butler to Mr. W. B. Gair. Of Kestrel Grove, by his wife, Kate, dau. of John Cato, of Kirtlington, near Oxford; b. Bushey Heath, 14 Nov. 1896 ; educ. Stanmore, Middlesex ; was a groom ; joined 9th Middlesex, 8 Aug. 1914 ; transferred to the 1/7th Battn. and left for France, 13 March, 1915, and died at Merville Hospital, 18 June, 1915, of wounds received on the 15th. Buried in Military Cemetery, Merville ; unm. His Company Commander, Capt. I. M. Cossar, wrote : “he was seriously wounded on the 15th of this month, as we were coming into the trenches. The Germans turned a machine-gun over the ground behind the trenches for some long distance back, and caught the company, wounding two of my best men. Your son received a bullet wound in his back, injuring the spinal column. He was at once taken to the dressing station where a motor was waiting to take him to Merville Hospital. His wound was very serious.”
Additional Information
Dianne Payne - www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk, Jonty Wild
Acknowledgments
Andrew Palmer
Dianne Payne - www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk, Jonty Wild
