William Lanham was born in 1895 and in 1911 was living at 8 Church Lane, St Martin’s, Stamford with the family of William Henry Bradshaw, a house-painter. He worked as a ‘domestic houseboy’ for Bradshaw’s wife, Lillian Clarice, and their only son John.

Although in 1911 he said he came from Wothorpe, in 1901 he was living with his mother Mary and her elder sister, Elizabeth Tarrant, in Southampton and his birthplace was given as Scotland with no details of his father. His war service, if any, and his subsequent life are not known.