People on board

HEDGES, William Henry

William Henry Hedges was born in Lambeth, London in 1899 to Frederick Hedges and Emily Catherine Saunders. He was the fourth of their surviving five children, three dying in infancy. The eldest was a girl Emily Caroline and Emily Catherine later called herself Emily Caroline as well. Frederick was a General Labourer and in 1911 Emily gave her occupation as ‘Bottle Filler of Barrett’. The family lived in various houses in Tyre St in Lambeth, moving to Seaham Street, Wilcox Road before 1920.

William’s eldest brother Frederick, a ‘Vanguard’ in the 1911 census enlisted in the London Regiment of the Royal Fusiliers. He was with the 4th Battalion at Ypres and was killed in action on the 21st of March 1915. His name is recorded on the Menin Gate Memorial. William enlisted in the Essex Regiment and in October 1918 was with the 1/8th Battalion which had been in Ireland since February 1918.

Presumably returning home on leave he travelled on RMS Leinster on the 10th of October but he did not survive the sinking, nor was his body recovered. His name is recorded on the Hollybrook Memorial in Southampton. The names of both Frederick and William Hedges are recorded on the London War Memorial.