William Abbott

Corporal William Abbott (250771) of the Railway Transport Establishment of the Royal Engineers died on 22 April 1918. He is buried at Haringhe (Bandaghem) Military Cemetery. He is not listed on the Hampton Wick War Memorial but his Commonwealth War Graves Commission entry refers to him as the husband of B Abbott of 226 Kingston Road, then in the postal district of Hampton Wick. He was an old soldier having served in the Sudan Campaign (1898-1899) and the South African Wars (1899-1902).

According to the biographical information on his entry on the Online WW1 War Memorial for Teddington, he was born about 1874 and married Bridget Mary Quinn in Dublin on 8 May 1895. They had three children: Mary Eileen born in 1903; William Matthew born in 1904 and Eileen Aileen born in 1907. William Abbott worked as a furniture porter.

According to replies given on the Great War Forum website to an enquiry about his war service raised by his grandson, William Abbott had been born in St Clements, Suffolk, but enlisted in Hampton Wick initially joining the Army Service Corps (under Service No 158969) and reaching the rank of Acting Corporal before transferring to the Railway Transport Establishment (changing to Service No 250771). At some point thereafter his Service number changed again (to WR/355232) which may indicate he changed units.

Corporal Abbott died of his wounds on 22 April 1918 at the 62nd Casualty Clearing Station a victim of the last great German Spring Offensive, perhaps as a result of enemy shelling of the railway he was working on.

The name of the cemetery in which Corporal Abbott is buried is an example of slightly grim Tommy humour. Bandaghem was one of three Casualty Clearing Stations around Ypres given an ironic nickname relating to the treatment the Tommies received (i.e. the medical staff “bandaged em” and then sent the wounded back to the Front).