| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
William Percival was born in Manchester in 1873, one of eight children of Thomas and Mary Percival. In 1891 he was working as a cotton spinner, shortly after he enlisted and became a regular soldier and served in the 2nd Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment. The medal rolls for 1901 show that he saw action at Witteberg and Cape Colony, South Africa. He ended his service in the East Yorkshire Regiment with the rank of Sergeant.
While stationed at Victoria Barracks, Beverley, he married Florence Gertrude Firth in 1895. Three of their children were born in Beverley, one was born in Aldershot and another in Burma in 1908. Florence Gertrude died in India in May 1910, and the census of 1911 shows two of their children living with her sister, Annie, in Princes Gardens, Beverley, and the other three living with her niece, Mabel, in Well Lane, Beverley. William was also back in England, living with a nephew in Hulme, Manchester. In 1913 William married Ethel Mary Woods in Lancashire.
During the First World War William served with the 9th Battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers, embarking from England on 11 Jul via Mudros to Suvla Bay. The attack on the Helles front from 6 to 13 Aug 1915 was a fiercely fought battle with many casualties on both sides. One of those casualties was William Percival who died on 7 Aug 1915.
He is remembered with Honour on the Helles Memorial and his name appears on the Beverley War Memorial.
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |