Private
William MacPhail
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About William

  • Name
    William
  • Initials
    W
  • Surname
    MacPhail
  • Date of Birth
  • Birth town
  • Resided town
  • Commemorated
  • Nationality
  • Place of death
  • Date of death
  • Married
  • Occupation

Service Information

  • Army

  • Service Number
    184941/27444/685189
  • Rank
    Private
  • Regiment
    Army Service Corps

Biography

Private William Macphail was serving with the 113th Field Bakery Royal Army Service Corps when he passed through Peterborough East Station on 13 September 1916.  At the time he was stationed at Wroxham in Norfolk.

We are unable to locate William’s service record, so we have not been able to find out a great deal about him.  However, he wrote in the visitors’ book the Scottish quote “Long may your lum reak” (which translates to “may you never be without fuel for your fire or long may your chimney smoke”), so we have assumed that he may be a Scot.

His medal records indicate that he served with the Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent) Regiment and the Queen’s (Royal West Surrey) Regiment.  He was awarded the British War and Allied Victory medals.

Do you know William?  Can you tell us something about him?

“There is an old adage that an army marches on its stomach, and by 1914 the British Army realised that to fight even a short war in Europe it would have to provide the required infrastructure to feed its troops on campaign. Much of this work was done by the Army Service Corps (ASC) and one of its key units in providing part of the staple diet was the Field Bakery. In 1914 there was one Field Bakery in every infantry division. Staffed by one officer and ninety-two men from the ASC it could produce enough bread for more than 20,000 men”. http://bit.ly/2sAhXcB  

Campaign Medals

The Allied Victory Medal
The British War Medal, 1914-18

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