William Charles Shallis Lock was born in the spring of 1894, the eldest child to Harriet Lock. Born out of wedlock, Harriet went on to marry William’s father, Charles Shallis, in 1897. The couple would go on to have two more children – Walter and Lilian – before Harriet’s untimely death in 1900.

The 1901 census recorded William living with his maternal grandparents, Daniel and Ellen Lock, in the family’s home village of Bishops Lydeard, Somerset. Daniel was a farm labourer and, by the time of the 1911 census, William was making his own way in the world, boarding at Rainbow Wood Farm in Claverton, to the east of Bath. The document seems to indicate that William had ditched his first name, and was now using Charles as his preference.

War came to Europe in the summer of 1914, and Charles stepped up to play his part. Sadly, full service records are no longer available for him, but it is clear that he had enlisted in the opening months of the conflict, and that he joined the Bedfordshire Regiment.

Assigned to the 7th (Service) Battalion, Private Lock found himself in France by the end of August 1915. Charles would have found himself in the thick of the fighting, and was entrenched at both the Somme in 1916 and Passchendaele the following year.

It seems likely that Private Lock’s luck ran out at either the Battle of St Quentin in March 1918, or at the Battle of the Avre, just a few weeks later. That he was wounded is certain, as he was medically evacuated back to Britain, and admitted to Liverpool Infirmary. Charles’ injuries were to prove too severe, however, and he died while admitted on 5th April 1918. He was just 24 years of age.

The body of William Charles Shallis Lock was taken back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest towards the front of the graveyard of St Mary’s Church, in his home village, Bishops Lydeard.

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