February 22, 1917 to February 22, 2017: Rest in Peace, dear William.

100 years ago on February 22, 1917,

my great uncle, William Joseph Williams

gave his life in WWI, age 24, in Salonika, Greece. 

He fell in a skirmish against the Germans, and was

hit at close range in one of his legs. The newspaper clipping below gives a good description. His leg had to be amputated, and William didn't survive.

William was born in Blaenau Ffestiniog,
North Wales in 1893. I haven't yet sent away for his birth certificate, so I don't know the date of birth.

He joined the Royal Welch Fusiliers in Wrexham, Wales and on Sept 5, 1915 was sent to France.

I only have 2 photos of William, so I did a bit of photo-shopping and added William's head to this lovely Royal Welsh Fusiliers head shot of another soldier!

I had thought maybe this year, 2017, I would visit William's grave but I don't feel like that part of the world is safe at the moment.

William was part of the Machine Gun Corps during the last few months of his life.

The above clipping states William passed away 

"on the 6th day at the Casualty Clearing Hospital", so this means he would have been injured on Feb 17, which was his older brother's birthday.
(my Grandpa John Griffith Williams)
It also states that Miss Ellen Roberts, William's aunt, was the only person that the sender of the news had an address for, although the person knew that
"your nephew used to write to his girl very faithfully".

The clipping is cut off at this point. I'd love to know who wrote the letter, but I haven't yet been able to find it online. That sentence makes me cry every time I read it.

The above is the UK army register of Soldier's Effects, for William Williams. His brother is the one who received them, Robert David Williams, who was on the HMS Violet. 

Henry Hargreaves (should have initial C not E) was the chaplain and wrote this lovely letter.

I recently was given a link to the Welsh newspapers online which shows the above, "Williams, 14842,

W. (Blaenau Festiniog)" under
DIED OF WOUNDS.

No wonder I couldn't locate an obituary without any help! This was found in The North Wales Chronicle.

And this is where William is buried.
His plot is in section D, #828.

I'm so thankful I purchased the photo of his

grave, from the War Graves Photographic

Project online.

William's medal index card, showing his enlistment and his date of death.

I created a collage for my Facebook page, to remember great uncle William.

I've done my best to learn all I could about you, dear William. One day I hope to meet you in Heaven.

By Loretta (Williams) Houben

I've found William Williams on the 1911 Welsh Census!!!!

I just had to add this to my blog tonight!

I was browsing Findmypast records.

They sent me a Hint for Ellen Roberts, so I checked it out.

While staring at the 1911 Welsh census, trying to figure out if the word "nai" meant "nephew" in English, and what did "pentelue" mean in English, I decided to check them out in a Welsh English dictionary online. My heart nearly stopped beating as it dawned on me that this was indeed, my great uncle William, THE William; and his aunt, Ellen Roberts, the same aunt which the RWF wrote to in the newspaper to inform her of her nephew's death!

The VERY SAME PEOPLE!

(penteulu means head of household)

What helped to clinch it was the fact that Ellen Roberts was living at Dolgarregddu Street in Ffestiniog; the same place the ROBERTS lived at in the 1871 census, and the same place which Ellen lived at when the RWF sent her the letter about William.

The address isn't shown on the handwritten form, but shows on the transcribed form.

The original forms before and after Ellen's form are all listed as living at Dolgarregddu Street.

I was so excited when I realized this that I nearly fell off my chair.

I stared at William's age (18) and realized that he wasn't born in 1898 after all; he was born in 1893.

And he wasn't 19 when he died in 1917; he was 24.

For some reason I was so happy he was 5 years older!

Then I thought; why did I assume he was 19?

It was because my Grandma always said he was 19 when he died, but he wasn't!

And so this 1901 Welsh census I had found a few years ago is correct!

It shows Robert David (age 11) and little Willie (age 8) living as boarders on a farm in Talsarnau, the same area which John Griffith (my grandpa) was also living age 13 as a cattle hand.

(see below)

I also just realized that this 1901 census was filled out by the same person, and the above info on Robert and Willie is on page 4, while the info on John below is on page 14!

This is thrilling so I just had to add it here tonight.

What a day for research!

By Loretta (Williams) Houben

Ellen Roberts, aunt to William Joseph Williams.

Here is the copy of William William's death notice sent to Miss Ellen Roberts, living at 9 Dolgaregddu Street in Ffestiniog, North Wales.

I'm not sure what happened to William's parents. His mother Elizabeth was Ellen's older sister.

I'm still working on the clues.

However yesterday I noticed that Ellen Roberts appears on the 1871 Welsh Census, so I thought I'd put the newspaper clippings together with the census to confirm that yes, this is the correct Ellen Roberts. I assume she remained single and didn't get married as in 1917 when she was 58 years old, based upon her year of birth being 1859 according to the 1871 census and her age of 12 years, she was still addressed as Miss Roberts:

This is the piece of paper which came to light recently in my Dad's collection.

I love the words which C of E Chaplain, Henry Hargreaves wrote to Ellen.

Here is Ellen's name listed in a closeup of the 1871 census.

Here is the 1871 census full page, showing the Roberts family living at Dolgarregddu Street in Ffestiniog, North Wales.

By Loretta (Williams) Houben