William George Masters was born in Padstow, Cornwall, on 15th April 1877. The older of two children, his parents were Samuel and Catherine (or Kate) Masters. Samuel was an agricultural labourer, but his son sought a life at sea.

On 7th November 1894, William enlisted in the Royal Navy. Sent to HMS Northampton, an armoured cruiser repurposed as a training ship, he took on the role of Boy 2nd Class. His service records show that he was 5ft 6.5ins (1.69m) tall, with brown eyes, auburn hair and a freckled complexion. He was noted as having a scar on the third finger of his right hand.

Over the next six months, William showed a remarkable dedication to the job. On 7th February 1895 he was promoted to Boy 1st Class, and, just three months later, he came of age and assumed the rank of Ordinary Seaman.

William’s shore base was to be HMS Vivid, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Devonport, Devon, and he returned here regularly over the twelve years of his service. Ordinary Seaman Masters served on ten ships during this time and, on 1st May 1902, was promoted to Able Seaman.

His time in the navy wasn’t to be without incident, however, and he had two spells in the brig – for three days in July 1897, and ten days in December 1905. His misdemeanours are lost to time, but they did blemish an otherwise clear term of service for William.

William married Laura Oldham in 1905: they would go on to have three children – William Jr, Emily and Katharine. He was stood down to reserve status in April 1907 and, by the time of the next census in 1911, the family were living in Church Street, Padstow. No longer working for the Royal Navy, he was, instead, self-employed as a general labourer.

When war was declared in August 1914, William was called back into action. Assigned to HMS Argonaut, he once again too the rank of Able Seaman. He spent a year on board, patrolling the Atlantic, before the protected cruiser was converted to a hospital ship.

In September 1915, Able Seaman Masters transferred to another cruiser – HMS King Alfred – which served in the Mediterranean. He remained on board until the following summer, by which point his health was beginning to become affected.

William returned to Devonport in August 1916, remaining there for a couple of months. On 4th October, he as medically discharged, suffering from myocarditis, a heart condition.

At this point William’s trail goes cold. He returned to Cornwall, passing away at home on 13th September 1917: he was 40 years of age.

William George Masters was laid to rest in Padstow Cemetery, on the outskirts of the town he called home.

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