BROWN William Henry

The following information is courtesy of the researcher of Bourton-on-the-Hill War Memorial.

Summary
William Henry Brown came to Bourton around 1906 with wife and child. The family occupied Diamond Lodge, where more children were born. He worked as a porter. During World War 1 he served in the Gloucestershire Regiment and lost his life in France. His wife continued to live in Bourton after the war. His name appears on the Bourton war memorial and at the Loos Memorial in France.

Detail:
William Henry Brown was born in Astley, Worcestershire, in 1879, son and grandson of bricklayers. He was at home until at least 1901, also a bricklayer. In 1905 he married Emily Mary Carver in her home district of Hereford and the following year they had moved to Bourton where he lived in Diamond Lodge, Sezincote, occupation house porter – one source says gardener. Three children were born, were educated at Bourton school, and the two boys went on to grammar school. He continued to live in Bourton until at least 1915.

At some point he joined or was conscripted into the armed forces. His military documents have not been located and thus nothing is yet known about the detail of his service until his death in 1918. However, he is listed at the Gloucestershire Regiment Museum, has an entry in the lists of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and there is a medals card. He served in the 2/5th Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment, which he joined (date not given) in Stow on the Wold, and on 24 April 1918, aged 38, he was serving as a private when he was killed in action in France. He is remembered on panel 60 to 64 at the Loos Memorial in the Pas de Calais, France. This memorial commemorates over 20,000 officers and men who have no known grave, who fell in the area from the River Lys to the old southern boundary of the First Army, east and west of Grenay. He is also commemorated on the war memorial in Bourton. His army effects, some twenty three pounds including a War Gratuity of eight pounds and ten shillings, were sent to his widow.

His death came too late to stop his name appearing in the 1918 electoral register in Bourton, where he is listed as an absent military voter for just the one year, after which there is no entry for him. His wife Emily continued to live in the village until at least 1929 though she had moved out of Diamond Lodge, which was occupied by another family from 1920. The CWGC memorial lists her address as The Corner, Bourton on the Hill. At least her oldest son was also in the village as he appeared on the voter’s list when he became of age in 1927. Perhaps she remained in the area and was the Emily M Brown whose death was registered in the North Cotswold district in 1959 at the age of 79.

William Brown has no known grave, the photograph available shows his name on Loos Memorial.