208216 L/Cpl. William Charles Tame British Army 12th Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment from:Bristol (d.29th Jul 1917) My Grandfather, William Charles Tame was born on the 2nd of July 1870, in the Parish of St Mary Redcliffe in Bristol. He was the son of a Catholic couple William Thomas Tame and Clara Tucker. His Parents were barge people who earned their living on the River Avon. His Father died as a result of falling from his barge into the mud. When he was 18 years old William Charles enlisted into the 1st Battalion of the Royal Scots. He served in South Africa for two years and twenty-eight days between 1899 and 1901. He was entitled to wear the South Africa Medal. He was discharged at Glencoe in Scotland after serving thirteen years and thirty-two days. He is described on his discharge certificate as being 5'5''tall and having a fair complexion with brown hair and hazel eyes. On the 2nd of February 1894 he married Margaret Rafter at St George's Parish Church in the City of York.
In 1914 the First World War broke out, and on the 3rd of December that year William volunteered. He was enlisted into the Gloucestershire Regiment in a Battalion known as "Bristol's Own" made up of men from the Bristol area. He completed basic training and was posted to France in 1915. On the 23rd of July 1917 he returned to France having spent ten days at home on leave. On the 29th of July whilst on guard duty at the front, he was struck by lightening and fatally injured. He was buried with full military honours at Rocklincourt Cemetery near Arras in France. A family friend who survived the war gave the details of his death to his wife.
William and Margaret had five children who survived infancy. Four sons and a daughter. Their son William was also killed in the early days of the war, his body was never found. Charles their second son narrowly missed being killed when his ship was sunk with all hands while he was home on sick leave. Their son Reginald served in the Army in India. Their youngest son Leonard and daughter Gladys stayed at home with their mother and moved to York after the War. They settled in Hope Street in St George's Parish, not far from where Margaret was born.
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