William Babbage

A Private with the 4th Battalion, William died on 16th of April 1917 at the age of 31.

William was born at Helston, Cornwall, in 1885, a son of William and Ellen Babbage. By 1891 his family were living at Upper Street, Stratford Saint Mary, Suffolk. In 1901 they lived at 4 Saint Mary’s Place, Bridewell Lane, Bury St. Edmunds, and William was a ginger beer manufacturer and this was still their address in 1911 when William was a brewer’s assistant. 

In late 1911 William married Emily L. Nunn and Bury St. Edmunds. At some point, after 1915, Emily lived at 59 Rotterdam Road, Lowestoft. Later she remarried and returned to Bury St. Edmunds.

William enlisted in the Army at Bury St. Edmunds. He joined the Middlesex Regiment, service number G/20320, and was posted to the 4th Battalion in France. 

No information is available that gives precise details of when, or how, William was wounded, but it is likely to have been near Arras between 9 and 11 April 1917. He died of wounds on 16 April and is buried at Etaples which was the base for many military hospitals and casualty clearing stations.