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World War 1 One ww1 wwII greatwar great 1914 1918 first battalion regiment
QMS. William George Davies
British Army Army Service Corps
from:Bethnal Green, London
My great grandfather, William George Davies, was born in Shoreditch, East London in 1882. His father was a baker and had a shop at 509 Seven Sisters Road, Tottenham where William worked as a baker alongside his father and brother. He married my great grandmother in 1910 and they were running a bakers in Green Street, Bethnal Green in 1911. On 8th April 1915 he joined the army, leaving his wife in Bethnal Green with their 3 small daughters aged between 4 years and 5 months old. By the time of his death he would also have 2 sons born in 1918 and 1920, the youngest just 5 months old when he died.
He joined the Army Service Corps at Aldershot and by June 1915 they were in France. His discharge records say he was of very good character but on 8 November 1916 he was reprimanded for being drunk in town without a pass. In May 1917 he was transferred to the Labour Corps where he was a Quarter Master Sergeant but by August 1918 he was already being treated for shell shock and was formerly discharged as being unfit for service on 11 Sept 1918 ('melancholia due to AS'). He was sent to the Belfast War Hospital which was a specialist mental health unit set up in 1917. Across the top of his discharge papers is written by hand 'Mental case'. He was discharged with a new suit, £1 and his Silver Badge.
At some point after August 1918 he arrived at the Royal Victoria Military Hospital, Netley where his treatment for shell shock continued. He died there on 27 June 1920. My grandmother, Florence Ada Davies, told me a story that he died from blood poisoning after being bitten by a goat - my dad and I used to laugh at this, dismissing it as another of her funny stories. His service records show that his wife gave his cause of death as 'blood poisoning' and also mentioned Army Farms 2067 and 2079 so perhaps there was some truth in it after all....
William George Davies is buried in the Netley Military Cemetery. He was 39 years old when he died and was survived by his wife Annie; daughters Edith, Mary and Florence; sons Billy and Bert. He is remembered by his grandchildren and great grandchildren.
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