Alec William Willmott was born in 1886 and was one of six children to Henry and Ellen Willmott. Henry was a farm labourer from Oldland in Gloucestershire, and this is where the family were raised.

When he left school, Alec found work making shoes and boots at a local factory – this was work most of the Willmott children went into. On 24th April 1916, he married Elsie Frost in the local church. The couple set up home in Keynsham, and went on to have a son, Cecil, who was born in August 1917.

Alec played his part during the war. Full service details are not available, but it is clear that he had enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps by the spring of 1918. There is no confirmation of whether Private Willmott served at home or overseas, but, by October 1918, he had been admitted to the 2nd London General Hospital in Chelsea, suffering from a combination of influenza and pneumonia.

Sadly, these conditions put a strong pressure on his heart: Private Willmott passed away from cardiac failure on 2nd November 1918, at the age of just 32 years old.

Alec William Willmott was brought back to Gloucestershire for burial. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Anne’s Church in his home village, Oldland.

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