Labour Corps
William Wadley was born on 20 April 1882 at Kempley, near Dymock, Gloucestershire.
He appears to have been one of fifteen children (six boys and nine girls) born to Christopher Wadley (1849-1919) an agricultural labourer and his wife Caroline (née Brown: 1849-1914).
Like so many men from large families at that time he opted for regular pay and meals and joined the Army when aged 17 and a half years. This was on 4 October 1899 and he stated his age to be 18 years and one month. At the time of joining he was a labourer and serving with the Gloucestershire Militia.
He was posted to the Gloucestershire Regiment and assigned the number 5676. He trained in the UK from 4 October 1899 until 10 May 1900 and had been assigned to the 2nd Battalion on 9 January 1900.
From May 1900 until February 1902 he was attached to the garrison on the island of St Helena, following which he transferred to the 1st Glosters and served in South Africa until November 1902.
From there he went to India, where he stayed until October 1907 and then returned to the UK.
He had originally signed on for seven years ‘with the colours’ and five in the Reserve and by 1904 he had decided to extend his time on active service and did so again in October 1908, so that he did not formally enter the Reserve until 4 October 1911.
On 4 September 1914 he was discharged from the Army as ‘medically unfit for service at home or abroad’ having served a total of 14 years and 336 days.
On 3 August 1908 he married Sarah Eveline James at Linton, Herefordshire. She appears to have had a daughter (Laura Beatrice) by him in 1901, probably conceived prior to his posting to St Helena and they had a son, William John, in 1910.
The 1911 Census records that the family lived at Aston Crew, Lea, Ross, Herefordshire, where William stated his occupation to be ‘farm labourer and Army Reservist’.
There is barely any surviving documentation relating to William’s Army service in the Great War.
He would have been aged 32 at the start of the war but appears to have been re-engaged in the Labour Corps at some point, notwithstanding the reason for his discharge in September 1914.
Possibly he volunteered his services or was conscripted and as the demand for manpower grew, he was seen as useful for service in one of the several Labour Corps functions in the UK.
It is not known where he died or the cause of death, on 13 November 1918, aged 36. However many deaths around that time were the result of contracting influenza.
A recently released Pension Record Card only states that he was ‘discharged’.
His wife was living at 20 Philip Street, Tredworth, Gloucester but by the time the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Register was compiled she had moved to 192 Lincoln Road, Gloucester.
Private William Wadley is buried in Gloucester Old Cemetery, where a standard CWGC headstone marks his grave.
Research by Graham Adams 24 February 2020