William John Hamilton was born in Urney, County Tyrone, in 1870. One of ten children, his parents of John and Bella. Little further information is available about his early life, but on 29th September 1895, William married Sarah McLaughlin.

The couple set up home in Ballycolman Lane, Strabane, and had at least six children. William worked as a shop porter, while Sarah kept house for the family.

By the time of the 1911 census, William was working as a general labourer. War was brewing over the continent by this point, however, and when hostilities were declared, he stepped up to play his part.

Full details of William’s service are lost to time. What documents remain, however, confirm that he enlisted no earlier than June 1917, and that he joined the Royal Engineers as a Pioneer. He was attached to an Inland Water Transport unit and sent to Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, for training.

Pioneer Hamilton’s Pension Ledger Card provides a tantalising insight into his passing. On 25th December 1917, he died from “suffocation from submersion accidentally drowned while on active service.” There is no other documentation to expand on what happened, and no contemporary newspaper report on his passing. William was 47 years of age.

It would appear that Sarah was unable to afford the cost of bringing her late husband’s body back to Ireland for burial. Instead, William John Hamilton was laid to rest in Amesbury Cemetery, close to where he had passed away.

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