William Henry Gray
- Family History
- Military History
- Extra Information
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William Henry was the son of Frank and Elizabeth Etches Gray (née Pierrepoint). His father was born in Bingham, Nottinghamshire, in 1877, the son of George Gray. In 1881, Frank (13) was living with his grandparents and widowed father in Bingham, and working as an agricultural labourer. His mother Elizabeth Etches was born in Carlton, Nottingham, in about 1877, the daughter of William and Sarah Pierrepoint. Frank and Elizabeth were married at Carlton-in-the-Willows St Paul in January 1898 and had five children, three of whom survived infancy: William Henry b. 31 July 1899 bap. St Paul 27 August 1899, Florence b. 1900 bap. St Paul 1900 and Frank b. 1901 (reg. 1902 J/F/M). Frank, a railway engine stoker, and Elizabeth and their two children, William and Florence, were living at Fairview Cottages, 5 Meadow Road, Carlton, in 1901. Their son Frank was born later that year. By 1911 Frank, now a railway engine driver, his wife and their three children were living at 31 Garnet Street, Netherfield. Wiliam's parents were still living at 31 Garnet Street when Elizabeth died in April 1930. Probate: administration was awarded to her husband Frank and married daughter Florence Stableford (m. 1920 Thomas Stableford). In 1939 when the England & Wales Register was compiled, Frank snr. was living at 13 Meadow Cottages, Carlton, with his married son Frank, an upholsterer, and his wife Emma (née Reeve, m. 1923). Frank snr. died in hospital in September 1958. Probate: administration was awarded to his daughter Florence Brookes and son Frank. His home address was 'The Standard of England', Park Lane, Old Basford, which may have been the home of his daughter Florence and her second husband Wilfred Edwin Brookes (m. 1945). Her first husband, Thomas Stableford, licensee of the 'Blacks Head', Park Street, Lenton, had died in 1942.
William enlisted at Hucknall and was posted to the 87th Training Battalion (71618). He then transferred to the 13th Battalion Alexandra Princess of Wales's Own (Yorkshire Regiment), the regiment's title since 1902 with Queen Alexandra as its colonel-in-chief. The 13th Battalion was formed in Richmond, Yorkshire, in July 1915 as a Bantam Battalion (recruited from men of 5ft. to 5ft. 3in. with an expanded chest of 34in.). The Battalion moved to Aldershot in July 1915 and came under orders of 21st Brigade 40th Division. On 2 April 1916 it absorbed the 18th Bn Sherwood Foresters, mobilised and landed at Le Havre on 6 June the same year. The Battalion was reduced to cadre strength in 1918 after heavy losses during the German Spring Offensive in Flanders, including the Battle of the Lys, 7-29 April. William was killed in action on 13 April 1918, one military record noted that his death on that date was 'presumed.' He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial, Belgium (Panel 4). He was eligible for the Victory and British War Medals. CWGC - History of Ploegsteert Memorial (extract): the Memorial stands in Berks Cemetery Extension, 12.5kms from the town of Ieper (Ypres) and 'commemorates more than 11,000 servicemen of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in this sector during the First World War and have no known grave. The memorial serves the area from the line Caestre-Dranoutre-Warneton, in Belgium, to the north, to Haverskerque-Estaires-Fournes, in France, to the south, including the towns of Hazebrouck, Merville, Bailleul and Armentieres, the Forest of Nieppe, and Ploegsteert Wood ... Most of those commemorated by the memorial did not die in major offensives, such as those which took place around Ypres to the north, or Loos to the south. Most were killed in the course of the day-to-day trench warfare which characterised this part of the line, or in small scale set engagements, usually carried out in support of the major attacks taking place elsewhere.' (www.cwgc.org)
CWGC additional information: 'Son of Frank and Elizabeth Gray, of 31, Garnett St., Netherfield, Notts.' Registers of Soldiers' Effects: his father, Frank, was his legatee.
