9th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment
Leaving All that was Dear – Cheltenham and the Great War by Joe Devereux and Graham Sacker states the following:
Private Edward Williams enlisted in the 9th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment in December 1914 and went to France on 20 September 1915. He almost certainly went with his battalion to serve in Salonica where the 9th Gloucesters spent the next thirty months before coming back briefly to France in September 1918. He had probably been discharged from the Army and died at home of unknown causes on 29 July 1920, leaving a widow and young children at 42 Bloomsbury Street, Cheltenham.
It is also known that Edward Williams was born in Cheltenham in the third quarter of 1890, which would have made him 30 years of age when he died. Possibly he was the son of Edward and Elizabeth Williams, who at the time of the 1911 Census lived at 4 Elm Street, Cheltenham. This couple had eight children (one had died by the time of the census). On the census return Edward’s occupation is shown as ‘market garden labourer’.
Turning to his Army service, his Medal Rolls Index Card confirms service with the 9th Glosters and departure to France on 20 September 1915. The battalion departed for the Salonika front in November 1915 and stayed there until arriving back in France on 4 July 1918. The British sector of the Salonika front was a most unhealthy place and malaria was rife.
Possibly Edward contracted this and it resulted in his premature death? However, he does not appear to have received a Silver War Badge (to indicate discharge from the Army as a result of sickness) and there does not appear to be any Pension Record. His Service Record was probably lost due to German bombing in 1940.
His Pension Record Card (released through the Ancestry website in late 2018) confirms that a pension had been granted, from 24 October 1919, due to there being present valvular disease of the heart.
Edward Williams married Violet L Jenkins in the fourth quarter of 1912 in Cheltenham but the number of children of the marriage cannot be determined with certainty.
Private Edward Williams died in Cheltenham General Hospital on 29 July 1920 from acute endocarditis, cerebral embolism and meningitis; he was 30 years old. He was buried in Cheltenham Cemetery, where his grave is marked by a CWGC headstone. He is also commemorated on the Cheltenham Borough War Memorial and those in St Mary’s Church and St Peter’s Church.
Researched by Graham Adams 20 February 2013 (Revised 12 June 2022)