William Berry

2nd Lieutenant William Berry of the Army Service Corps died on 4 July 1917. He is buried at Norwich Cemetery, Norfolk. He is not listed on the Hampton Wick War Memorial but his Commonwealth War Graves Commission entry refers to him as being the son of James and Eliza Berry, and the husband of Theresa Maria Berry, of 22 Church Grove, Hampton Wick.

William Berry was born towards the middle of 1883 in Southend, Essex. The 1891 Census reveals that by that date he was living with his parents at Bridge House, Prittlewell, Southend, Essex, with his older brothers James (13), Henry (10), and George (11) and his younger brother, Alfred (6). His father had been apprenticed as a plumber but by 1891 had become an ironmonger. The family must have been reasonably prosperous because by 1911, William at 27 had become a barrister and his older brother George was a civil engineer, both middle-class professions. Both William and George were still living at Prittlewell with their widowed father.

William Berry’s connection with Hampton Wick appears to have been tenuous and to have arisen via his wife, a relatively local girl. He married Theresa Mary Scott on 2 July 1915 at Farnham, Surrey. Theresa had been born on 15 September 1892 in Sunbury but had been living in Worthing at the time of the 1911 Census. She lived in the area until her death in 1946 in Isleworth.

It would appear from William Berry’s entry in UK Soldiers Died in the Great War that he was involved in Divisional Training at the time of his death on 4 July 1917 at Blofield, Norfolk.