L/Cpl 23664 William Hemming

William Bernard Hemming was born in the December quarter of 1893. His parents had married on the 20th March 1892 at All Saints, Leamington Priors. John was a 27 year old coachman of Brewery Lane, his father, John, was a bathchair manufacturer, whilst Eliza Gertrude was aged 25 of 25 Russell Street, her father, John, was a farrier and gilder. He was baptised on 05th November in St. Mark’s Church, Leamington Priors, his parents’ residence given as New Milverton, and his father’s occupation as coachman. He had an older brother John Henry, born in 1892, and younger siblings Charles Harold, 1896, and Gertrude Agnes, in 1898.    

In 1901 the family is living at 5 Binswood Street, Leamington. His father, is aged 36, and is a domestic coachman born in Leamington, his mother, is aged 33 born in Warwick. There are four children declared in the housed; John, is aged 8: William, is aged 7, Charles, is aged 4, and Gertrude, is aged 2. Another son, Frederick Ernest, was born in 1902. 

His death was reported in the Liverpool Weekly Courier on Saturday 14th April 1917;  

Lance Corporal Wm. Hemming who was killed in action on April 2nd, enlisted in the K.L.R. in 1914, and had been in France 11 months. He was a native of Leamington and 30(sic) years of age. His home was at 139 Kirkdale Road, Liverpool. [At this address in 1911, that of Quinn’s Cycle Dealers, was a Sarah Lunt and family, she was aged 19 and probably the “Sarah Hunt”, the beneficiary in his Will.]  

His death was also announced in The Coventry Evening Telegraph’s Local Casualties on 02nd May 1917, with no further details. 

Killed: Hemming, 23664, Lance-Corporal W., Leamington, King's (Liverpool) Regt.; 

His body was either not recovered or was subsequently lost as his name is recorded on the Arras Memorial in France. 

The ARRAS MEMORIAL commemorates almost 35,000 servicemen from the United Kingdom, South Africa and New Zealand who died in the Arras sector between the spring of 1916 and 7 August 1918, the eve of the Advance to Victory, and have no known grave. The most conspicuous events of this period were the Arras offensive of April-May 1917, and the German attack in the spring of 1918. Canadian and Australian servicemen killed in these operations are commemorated by memorials at Vimy and Villers-Bretonneux. A separate memorial remembers those killed in the Battle of Cambrai in 1917. Both cemetery and memorial were designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, with sculpture by Sir William Reid Dick. The memorial was unveiled by Lord Trenchard, Marshal of the Royal Air Force on the 31 July 1932 (originally it had been scheduled for 15 May, but due to the sudden death of French President Doumer, as a mark of respect, the ceremony was postponed until July).

His death was reported in the Liverpool Weekly Courier on Saturday 14 April 1917: 

Lance Corporal Wm. Hemming who was killed in action on April 2nd, enlisted in the K.L.R. in 1914, and had been in France 11 months. He was a native of Leamington and 30 years of age. His home was at 139 Kirkdale Road, Liverpool. [At this address in 1911, that of Quinn’s Cycle Dealers, was a Sarah Lunt and family, she was aged 19 and probably the “Sarah Hunt”, the beneficiary in his Will.] 

William’s Army effects, Army Pay of £5 10s  went to his father John H., and a War Gratuity of £10-10s went to Sarah Hunt. 

The Will for William Hemming is in fact a letter to Sarah (Hunt). It was accepted as a Will because of the last but one sentence which says “don’t forget, everything I have made is to you”. It was written just before he went off to France but is undated, it is signed "Will xxxxxx". So clearly they were involved. Perhaps a fiancée or common law wife. However there is no positive link to Sarah around Aughton, Lancashire.

His father John Henry and brother Charles Harold were living at 10 Guy Place from at least 1920 until 1931.

 

Sadly, William has not been identified on any memorial in Warwickshire or Lancashire.