Name
William George Barnes
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
66655
Labour Corps
112th Labour Company
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Biography
William Barnes was born on 17th February 1893 at Abbots Langley. He was one of five children, three sons and two daughters, born to John and Julia Barnes. William’s brother Ernest John Barnes also served in the Great War. The family lived at Breakspeare Road, Abbots Langley at the time of the 1901 Census. John, who had previously worked as a Labourer was listed as a Gardener Domestic. The family continued to live at Breakspeare Road and were recorded living there in the 1911 Census, and throughout the Great War. In 1911 John was recorded working as a Kitchen Porter with the General Post Office, and William as a Gardener (Private).
William attested at Watford on 9th September 1914, and at the time gave his occupation as a Gardener. He attended a Medical Inspection at Bedford the next day and was declared fit for the Army. On 12th September William was posted to the 8th Battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment. The Abbots Langley Parish Magazine Roll of Honour recorded William for the first time in October 1914, serving with the Bedfordshire’s. William’s Service Record noted that on 19th December 1914, whilst in training with the 8th Bedford’s, William was found guilty of being Absent Without Leave for twenty-four hours, and was admonished and forfeited one day’s pay. On 10th June 1915 he was found guilty of neglecting his duty when Orderly Man, and was confined to Barracks for three days.
William was sent to France on 30th August 1915, and took up positions close to Bethune in preparation for the Battle of Loos in which the Battalion participated on 25th and 26th September. The 8th Bedford’s were then transferred to the Ypres Sector and spent the next few months rotating between Front Line trenches near St Jean, to the east-north-east of Ypres, and rear areas near Poperinghe. On 16th May 1916, whilst in the Reserve Dug-outs at the Canal Bank, to the north of Ypres, William was hit by a shell fragment, and was posted Home on 20th May. He was reported wounded in the Parish Magazine in July 1916, and also in a report included in the Hertfordshire Advertiser of 8th July 1916. On 26th August William was posted to the 10th Bedford’s and on 1st September was posted to the 3rd Bedford’s.
William appeared before a Medical Board at Languard near Harwich on 4th December 1916. It was stated that “whilst occupied on a canal bank in Belgium a shell burst near him and a fragment hit him on the right shoulder”. He was transferred to Class P, which indicated that he was eligible for a War Pension due to his disability. On 11th February 1917 he was posted to the 5th Labour Company and on 15th February to the 4th Labour Company of the Labour Corps. William’s Service Record noted that he remained in England until 15th February 1917, which presumed that he returned to the Western Front from the next day. On 9th May 1917 William was transferred to the 112th Labour Company, and remained with this unit until the end of the War. William was recorded in the Absent Voter Records for Autumn 1918 and Spring 1919, serving with the Labour Corps. On 22nd April 1919 William was demobilised at Nottingham and returned to an address at 9 Breakspeare Road, Abbots Langley. On 27th May 1919 a letter from the Ministry of Pensions confirmed that William had been classified “Disabled” due to a shrapnel wound to the shoulder, and was considered 30% disabled. He received a pension of eight shillings and three pence from 23rd April 1919, to be reviewed in one year.
William survived the War, as did his brother Ernest John, and cousins James, Frederick and John, and his uncle Ernest William.
Additional Information
Formerly 16683 and 3rd, 8th & 10th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment; 4th & 5th Labour Companies, Labour Corps
Acknowledgments
Roger Yapp - www.backtothefront.org
