William Thorold

Census Address: 6 Doughty Street
Place of Birth: Bourne
Date of Birth: 1896
Enlistment Address: --
Regiment: 4th Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment
Service Numbers: Private 3371
Place of Death: Hohenzollern Redoubt, Western Front, Northern France
Date Died: 13 October1915
6 Doughty Street, Stamford

William was born in the summer of 1896 in Bourne, Lincolnshire. He lived there at 12 Stanley Street with his parents William(fitter) and Elizabeth (dressmaker), brother Albert, 14 (sodawater factory worker) and younger sister Louisa. In 1902 another daughter, Marjory, was born and after that the family moved to 6 Doughty Street, Stamford. Albert stayed in Bourne but William, Louisa and Marjory moved with their parents. William started work as an errand boy for the Co-operative store.
In August 1914 he was one of the first to volunteer for the army at one of the recruitment evenings held in Stamford by Sergeant Blanchard. At the age of 18 as Private 3371 of the 4th Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment William was posted to France on 11 Octpber 1914. He fought on the Western Front for a year and was finally killed in action in 1915. His death was later confirmed as occurring on 13 October1915 which was the date of the disastrous Battle for the Hohenzollern Redoubt. The Lincolnshire Regiment suffered huge losses on that date.

William was posthumously awarded the standard three WW I medals and his name is recorded on the Stamford War Memorial in Broad Street and on the Parish War Memorial outside All Saints’ church.

After the war his family were still living in 6 Doughty Street which they called Westbourne House. There were just 18 semi-detached houses in the street at the time, facing open ground of allotments and scrubland up the hill to Emlyn’s Drive.