12th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment
William Edward Whittington was born on 22 June 1887, son of William Whittington (1850-1913), a grocer, and Harriet (née Roberts) (1862-1937) of Broadwell Lane End, near Coleford.
The 1911 Census shows him living at home, with parents and two sisters — Arabella (born 1889), Maud (born 1893) and brother Percy (born 1898). Whilst all the rest of the family (except Percy, who was still at school) were involved with the family grocery business, William was employed as an Assistant Schoolmaster At an Elementary School.
William enlisted in the Gloucestershire Regiment at Bristol on 29 May 1915 giving his occupation as school teacher. He was posted to 12th (Service) Battalion (Bristol’s Own) and landed in France on 24 December 1915. For three months in early 1916 he was attached to the 2nd Entrenching Battalion and in January 1917 a very short attachment to 59th Field Company, Royal Engineers. He was, apparently, not suited to the rigours of life on the front line and spent many short spells in various Field Ambulances and Casualty Clearing Stations with PUO (pyrexia of unknown origin). He was finally diagnosed as suffering with bronchitis and, at No 2 Australian General Hospital at Wimereux on 12 April 1917, he was classified as no longer fit for war service and invalided back to England and to the Glosters’ Depot. He was discharged, with a Silver War Badge, on 26 April 1917.
Private William Edward Whittington died of pulmonary tuberculosis on 18 January 1918, aged 30 years. He was unmarried. His death was registered in the Bedwelty, Monmouthshire Registration District and it is believed he died at Pengam to where his widowed mother had moved. His remains were returned to the place of his birth for burial at, the then, Berry Hill (Christchurch) Cemetery. He has a private, kerbed grave, with an inscription on the stone kerbing.
Researched by Eric Nicholls 27 December 2019