William Henry Mead was born in Frome, Somerset, in the spring of 1886. The second of six children, his parents were mason Henry Mead and his wife, Eliza. Henry’s work took him across the area: the 1891 census found the family living at 5 Tower Hill in Dilton Marsh, Wiltshire, while by 1901 they had moved to Upton Scudamore, closer to Warminster.

By this point, William was working as a farm labourer, but he then disappears from the records. His entry on the Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects when he died shows that he left a significantly higher amount of money than would normally be expected for someone who had simply enlisted for the duration of the war. It is possible, therefore, that his absence from the 1911 census is due to him being out of the country whilst with the army.

The document confirms that William served with the 2nd Battalion of the Wiltshire Regiment. The unit saw action as Ypres, the Somme, Passchendaele and Messines, but, without his service records, it is impossible to know how or where Private Mead fought. He survived the war, however, and by the start of 1919, he was billeted in Tidworth, on the edge of Salisbury Plain.

Private Mead’s health was suffering by this point, and he was admitted to the camp’s hospital. He died, through causes unknown, on 27th April 1919: he was 33 years of age.

The body of William Henry Mead was taken back to Warminster, where his grieving family were now living. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of the town’s Christ Church.

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