MY WAR DEAD
SANDERSON, William Charles - died 9th October 1916.
William Charles Sanderson was born in Newington, Surrey, in the middle of 1895, being the second son of George James Sanderson, a labourer, and his wife who had been born Annie Mitchell. The family appear to have moved frequently and by 1901 were living in Croydon; William then had 2 younger sisters and an older half-sister, while his father was working as a milk carrier. What happened to the family after this is unclear, though it was not together in 1911; 2 younger children were in the care of the West Ham Union while George was probably in the West Ham workhouse and William does not seem to have been recorded.
What is known is that, sometime after the commencement of the war, William enlisted in the army in Walthamstow and served as a private with the 22nd (County of London) Battalion of the London Regiment. His medal record indicates that he did not see active service before 1916, but he was reported killed in action, after only a relatively short time, on 9th October of that year, aged 21. This was during the Battle of the Somme but his body was either not recovered or not identified; he is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial in the Somme.
William was awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal. He was not married and he had no known children; neither did his siblings have any known children. He left no Will
William Charles Sanderson was my 2nd cousin, three times removed.