Name
William George Atkins
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Biography
William Atkins first enlisted on 19th April 1898 into the Royal Marines. He was born on 14th October 1879 at Kitters Green, Abbots Langley. His father and mother, Shadrick and Mary Atkins moved the family to Breakspeare Road by the time of the 1891 Census. Shadrick worked as a Hay Binder, and eventually the family comprised nine children, four sons and five daughters.
It is not known when William completed his service with the Marines, however by 1911 he had married (Rose), and was living at Porridge Hill, Church Hill at Bedmond and worked as a Parcels Packer at a Paper Mill. In April 1908 the couple’s first son was baptised.
Having previously served in the Royal Marines William would have been posted to the Army/Navy Reserve and at the outset of War in August 1914, and would have been immediately mobilised. The Abbots Langley Parish Magazine first recorded William in its Roll of Honour in October 1914, serving with the Marines. He was repeatedly recorded each month throughout the War serving with the Royal Marine Artillery (RMA), and then was listed in the Absent Voters Records in Autumn 1918 and Spring 1919 where he served as a Gunner with the RMA. His home address was given at Bedmond.
William’s brother, Ernest, was killed in action at Passchendaele in December 1917, and one of four cousins who served, Leonard Atkins, was killed in action on the Somme in September 1916. The other cousins Arthur, Henry, and Frank all survived the War. His brother in law, Thomas Quarman, who had married his sister Annie, survived the War
William Atkins survived the War.
Acknowledgments
Roger Yapp - www.backtothefront.org
