Story
William John Bartlett served with the Royal Army Medical Corps at home and, before the war was over, had married his sweetheart When he joined up, aged 26, his physical development was described as "fair but will improve". Consequently, he served from 29 Feb 1916 (Leap Day) with the East Anglian Field Ambulance of the Royal Army Medical Corps. His record shows he was with the RAMC in the Northern theatre of war. He was 5ft 5ins with a 31-inch chest and good eyesight but his fitness was marked as 'fair but will improve'. He was listed as medically fit for garrison service, later given the fitness category C1 – only suitable for garrison service at home – but subsequently given a B1 listing, which meant he could have been posted abroad. (He remained serving at home.) William found himself hospitalised in the Middlesex War Hospital at Napsbury, near St Albans, from 5 Nov 1917 for 11 days. His disability was listed as, "No definite physical signs. Chest. No TB. Some cough and debility." He was also later in hospital for a time in Cambridge. There was no entry on his conduct sheet so he kept to the rules. Pte Bartlett, whose home was in Upper Parkstone, served at home for three years and 210 days, then carried out 'disembodied service (with Territorials?) for a further 187 days before being finally demobbed on 3 March 1920. His regimental numbers were 438541 and also 486045. William John Bartlett was born on 19 November 1889. He was the son of another William John and his mother was Beatrice Ellen Bartlett. (William had been born in Lytchett Matravers and Beatrice in Chilbolton, Andover.) Father William, at the time, worked as a labourer, though he later became a gardener. The family lived at Pamphill and William, their first child, was baptised in the parish of Wimborne Minster on 2 Feb 1890. A sister, Daisy, was born in the following year. By 1901, the Bartletts had moved to Albert Road, Upper Parkstone, Poole, with the house seemingly listed as No. 3. By then, another child had arrived, Elizabeth Alice, five years William's junior. (William senior was on the register of Poole electors in 1903 and 1904, living in Albert Road but qualifying through a property at 7 Spring Gardens. Later he qualified through 13 Albert Road but would subsequently again list the 7 Spring Gardens property as his qualifying address.) In the 1911 census William lived at home at 13 Albert Road with his mum and dad, sister, Elizabeth, who was 16 and working as a general servant, and a seven-year-old niece, Mabel Pacey. William junior was then working in a bakehouse but his Army record shows, soon afterwards, he become a French polisher. By the time William joined up in 1916, the family were still at number 13 and mum, Beatrice was listed as his next of kin. Number 13 Albert Road was also the home of William's sister and her husband, David James Cutler, when they married in 1917. David was a woodman's son and a munitions worker. William was 28 when he married Bertha Gwendoline Norris at St John"s Church, on Ashley Road on May 18 1918. She was a year older than him. They both living gave their address as number 13. William's father and youngest sister, Elizabeth Alice, acted as witnesses. By 1920 both William senior, his wife Beatrice and son William junior were all on the Poole Register of Electors, at 13 Albert Road. In 1923, it was still the home of a William Bartlett and, further up the road, number 78a was where a William Bartlett carried out the trade of boot repairer. By 1933, however, the property has listed under the name of Mrs Bartlett. William's mum, Beatrice, died in Poole in 1935. The 1939 Register records William and Gwendoline as two of four people living at the Albert Road address. William and involved in heavy work as a bottle packer and foreman and Gwendoline was a housewife. (The names of occupiers still living are not publicly listed.) We know that his wife, Bertha Gwendoline, died in Poole in1979. But when did First World War veteran William John Bartlett die? * Please contact us if you wish to suggest an amendment or have additional information.
Subdivision
- Royal Army Medical Corps