The Conisbrough and Denaby 100 Project
William Faulkner
William was born in 1878 to Samuel and Elizabeth Faulkner (nee Dawson) in Cambridgeshire. He was the middle of five children having one brother and one sister on either side of him. In adult life William himself had six children with his wife Mary Ellen, and died on 19th February 1916 in Belgium.
William’s father Samuel had been an agricultural labourer and was previously married to Alice Searle, who unfortunately died in 1862 leaving him a widower at the age of 31. Samuel met Elizabeth Dawson, and the couple had their five children between 1867 and 1885. However, records seem to suggest that the couple only married in 1878, when William’s elder siblings Elizabeth and Samuel Jr were already 11 and 3 respectively, and if these dates are correct Elizabeth would have been either pregnant with William, or have recently given birth to him at the time of her marriage.
The family moved around a lot and by 1871 were living in Lancashire. Samuel Snr was in the Navy, along with lodgers George Bingham and William Liddale. By 1881 when William himself was 3 years old the family had moved to Lincolnshire and his father Samuel, now 49 was working as a General Labourer. 1891 sees the family move again, this time living in Pudsey in Yorkshire and a 58 year old Samuel is working as a Railway Excavator, as are eldest son Samuel Jr and William, who is himself 15. The family have four lodgers, all of who also work as Railway Excavators.
In 1901 the family - still including 23 year old William and his 17 year old sister Hannah - have moved to King’s Norton in Worcestershire and William’s record appears to state ‘navvy’ as his occupation as do many of the males on the page. The newspaper report at the time of William’s death state that he had begun his army career at the age of 18, and had served four years. This is supported by his army attestation papers which state that he had previously been part of the 8th King’s Liverpool Battalion. It appears that he returned home following his discharge, which would have been at around the age of 22.
Finally, the 1911 census shows William living with his wife Mary Ellen and five of what would eventually be 6 children at 78 Blythe Street, Denaby Main. William is working as a miner. Although the 1911 census lists Mary Ellen as his wife, records suggest that following in the footsteps of his parents, William married Mary Ellen Swetmore after their children had been born, on 5th August 1914. Whether the date, if this is accurate, being the day after war was announced is significant is unclear however the couple already had six children together by this point and so it is quite possible that he wanted to ensure she was provided for as a widow, should the worst happen.
When war broke out William re-enlisted into the 2nd Battalion York and Lancaster Regiment in Pontefract at the age of 36 in August 1914. He was posted out to the front following some additional training in the north east of England. At the time of his medical examination, William was recorded as being 5 feet 9 ½ inches tall, weighing 172 lb (12st 4lb) and having a fully expanded chest measurement of 42 inches.
William's medal card shows that he arrived overseas on 28th December, 1914. He was awarded the British, Victory and 1915 Star medals.
Mary Faulkner
William's medal index card
Herbert Faulkner (WW2)
La Brique No.2
(click for larger images)
The service records show that in June 1915, William was admitted to hospital in hospital with a ‘GSWd Rt. Arm’; a gun shot wound to the right arm, which turned out to be a ‘blighty’ and he was returned to England on the 30th June on the Hospital Ship Dieppe.
The battalion war diaries for the 2nd Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment show that at the time William died the battalion had been at a location known as ‘Forward Cottages’ to the north east of Ypres since the evening of 16th February, when they relieved the 8th Bedfordshires. However, the period appears very quiet; many patrols are sent out, an aeroplane is sighted and there is shelling from time to time. However, there is little activity of any significance on the day that William died. It is possible that he was a result of ‘trench wastage’, a term applied to the every day occurrences which resulted in death; sniping, illness, injury. Alternatively he could have been sent out on one of the patrols and killed, or killed by the occasional shelling which is mentioned in the preceding days. His situation in La Brique No 2 however is very close to the trenches where he was situated (within a few hundred meters) and he is buried in the original plot, which is indicative of him having died in or close to the trenches, rather than having been transported back behind the lines; he has been buried by his comrades.
William is buried in La Brique Military Cemetery No 2, just to the north-east of Ypres. He is buried alongside another man from the 2nd York and Lancs (JH Winder) who was also killed on the same day. The pair are in the original plot of the cemetery which was begun in February 1915.
Records show that by January 1921 when she took receipt of his medals, Mary Ellen had remarried and become ‘Mrs ME Smith’. The paperwork which accompanied William’s possessions back to his wife has been annotated, presumably by Mary Ellen and says “Sir I only got his (pouch?) and there is a lot more things he had with him also a gold...” The rest is too faint to read, but shows that often, belongings had a way of separating themselves from men after their death. Mary Ellen was awarded a pension of ‘26/6’ a week to provide for herself and the couple’s six children.
Following in his father’s footsteps, William’s youngest son Herbert fought in the army during WW2. A photograph of him in uniform shows that he was a signaller, and was wounded at least once. Herbert survived the war and died in 1967.
We visited William's grave in August 2014, and laid his tribute. He is buried at La Brique Military Cemetery No. 2, very close to Ypres itself and across the road from La Brique Military Cemetery No. 1. He will be regularly visited when we travel to Belgium.