Henry George Williams

Rank:

Corporal

Unit at enlistment:

East Kent Regiment "the Buffs"

Force:

B.E.F.

Volunteered or conscripted:

Volunteered

Survived the war:

Date of death:

October 8th, 1916

Cemetery:

Vimy Memorial - Pas de Calais, France

Birth country:

England

Birth county:

Greater London

Birth city:

London, Canning Town

Address at enlistment:

35 Gordon Street, Brantford, Ontario

Next of kin address:

5 Allan Dale Street, Folkestone, Kent

Trade or calling:

Labourer

Employer:

Ingleby and Fitness Co.

Religious denominations:

Church of England

Marital status:

Married

Age at enlistment:

Letters and documents

Cause and Place of Death: Previously reported Missing, now for official purposes Presumed to have died on or since October 8, 1916.

BX December 6, 1916

Corporal H. Williams Reported Missing – When Time Expired with East Kents He Joined a Canadian Battalion

A few days after war was declared and the call for volunteers issued, Corporal Henry George Williams of this city, a reservist, of the East Kent “Buffs” regiment left for England to rejoin his old regiment. In January last, his time was up and he shortly afterwards joined a Canadian battalion and is now reported missing. His wife is at the present time in the old country.

BX October 17, 1914

Child's Hand Was Cut Off – British Reservist Who Resided in Brantford Corroborates Stories of German Cruelties.

The following letter has been received from Corporal Henry George Williams of A. Company, 3rd Battalion (The Buffs) East Kent Regiment, stationed at Dover Kent, by Alfred Fitness, of this city. Corp. Williams being one of the reservists who went away the night the large number left under civic auspices. Corp Williams was employed by James Fitness, contractor. The letter is as follows:

I haven’t gone across the channel yet, but we are expecting orders any minute, and I won’t be sorry in a good many ways when those orders come, for we are having a pretty tough time of it here, one way and another. All the boys are eager to get in touch with the Germans, and, believe me, it won’t be a light touch when they do. We are living fairly well here. The food we are getting comes off German boats that our people have captured and brought in here. There are quite a number of torpedo boats and submarines here, and it is quite a sight to watch them rush out and bring in different boats. We can see the cliffs of France quite plainly on a clear day from here and it is a common saying among the boys, “I wish I was there.”

What do you think of the war now? I think it is horrible, and so would you if you could see some of the poor Belgians that came over here by boat loads, most of them with nothing but what they stand up-right in and some of them wounded. I saw one little girl at Folkestone the other day, a little tot about six years old, one of whose hands was cut off by a German while she was clinging to her mother’s skirt. That is only one. There are hundreds often.

BX October 5, 1914

Wants to Go Back

H.T. Watt, secretary of the Brant Patriotic and War Relief Fund, has notified the Brantford Township Council that Mrs. Henry George Williams, 35 Gordon Street, wife of a reservist, wants to go back to England, she having been aided by the patriotic fund to date. It was suggested in the letter of notification that it would be cheaper for the township to pay $40 and send her home than to continue to assist while her husband was at the front.

BX October 28, 1914

To Return To Old Land

Arrangements have been completed whereby Mrs. Starling and Mrs. Williams, the wives of two reservists who went to the war from the county, will return with their little ones in the old land, and live on their husband’s pay and allowances, which they cannot do here and in case of anything happening they would be near their husbands and their friends. From the county standpoint the move was a good one as the expense will be much less than if they were assisted here. They will leave the city on November 3 and sail on the S.S. Megantic on November 5.