BISHOP William Francis

William Bishop was the son of William and Sarah Bishop of Malt House Cottage, Harvington.  Having previously worked at Arley Pit, Fillongby near Coventry, he joined the army on 2nd July 1914, serving in the 10th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment. The battalion became part of 57th Brigade, 19th Division which trained at Tidworth, Wiltshire, before crossing to France 11th-21st July 1915 where it remained throughout the war.  He was badly wounded in May 1916 and spent some time in hospital in Sussex.  He returned to France in October 1916 and later took part in the battle of Messines (7th June-10th November 1917).

At 2300 hours on 6th July an attack began on a position known as “Druid Farm” and almost immediately ran into heavy enemy fire, it was a complete failure and William Bishop was killed by a shrapnel wound to the head, death was said to be instantaneous.  He was 22 years old and is commemorated along with 54,344 others on the Menin Gate memorial to the missing at Ypres.

The following information has been researched and transcribed by Jo Hooke:
William Francis Bishop was born in Evesham, Worcestershire in 1894. He was the second son of William Henry, an agricultural labourer and his wife Sarah Ann Bishop nee Stanley.

In 1901 the family, with the addition of 3 other children, lived at Rogues Hall Cottages, Alcester Road in Norton.

By 1911 the family had moved to Malthouse Cottages, in the heart of Harvington village. William Francis now had 3 brothers and 3 sisters at home. William’s father and younger brother Alfred 14 years worked on the land. Malthouse Cottage was the family home until the late 1960’s

Sometime between 1911and 1914 William left home to work at Arley Pit, Fillongley near Coventry. This may have been because his brother Allen was also working there.

William Bishop has no known grave, the photograph available shows his name on the Ypres Menin Gate Memorial.