MY WAR DEAD
PRATT, William James - died 3rd November 1918.
William James Pratt was born in Sunningdale, Berkshire, on 19th November 1885, his parents being William John Pratt, a bricklayer, and his wife who was born Mary Ann Caroline Evans. William was the second of his parents' 4 children, though his mother had a daughter from a previous relationship and 7 more children from a second marriage after her first husband died, probably in 1889.
William seems to have lived his early life in Sunningdale, being recorded there with his family in both 1891 and 1901. He had no recorded occupation in 1901, but by 1911, he had married Charlotte Cecilia Chandler and was working as a coachman in Hersham, Surrey. Later in 1911, William and Cecilia had a son, James, who did not survive, and his mother, step-father and some of his siblings emigrated to Canada in 1912.
William's service record has not survived but it is known that he enlisted in the Royal Garrison Artillery at Kingston-upon-Thames while he was still living in Hersham. His medal card indicates that he then served with the Liverpool Regiment before transferring to the Labour Corps; there is no indication that he saw active service before 1916. William died on 3rd November 1918, aged 32, in the area of the Somme, and is buried in the Roisel Communal Cemetery extension, near to Peronne. William was awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal.
William's widow remarried in 1921.
William James Pratt was my 3rd cousin, twice removed.