Priory Court contained 4 houses and was behind 18 St Leonard’s St presumably accessed through the left-hand archway of the present No 18. William Raymond Botham was living at No 1 in 1911. He was 14yrs old and working as a Stationers’ Errand Boy. Also in the 3-roomed house were his parents and 5 brothers and sisters.

Longuenesse Souvenir Cemetery

He and his elder older brother Henry, a brass turner at the Lamp Works aged 18 and 2 of his sisters, Olive 16 and Dorothy Phyllis aged 11, had all been born in Rotherham. His younger sisters Dora, 7 and Ena, 4 were born in Stamford, so William must have grown up and gone to school in the town.

In 1901 when the family were living in Rotherham, William’s father, also called William, gave his occupation as musician but by 1911 he was working as a machine painter at the Agricultural Implement Works. The family were still at 1 Priory Court in 1916 but by the time William enlisted they had moved back up to Sheffield.

William joined the 10th Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment and died, presumably of wounds, on 19th November 1918 just after the end of the war. He was buried at Longuenesse Souvenir Cemetery.