Peterborough & The Great War

Biography

William Charles Chenery was born in Bury St Edmunds on 24 April 1893 to parents William Herbert Chenery, a carpenter and Alice Maud.  In 1911 the family were living at 2 Gordon Cottages, Exning Road, Newmarket.  He had a younger brother Cecil Ernest, and two sisters, Lily Florence, and Evelyn May.

William’s attestation papers, signed 2 March 1916, describe William as 5ft 10 ½ inches tall, aged 23 and 7 months and living at 3 Queens Road. He enlisted on 1 November 1916 at Bury St Edmunds, his first choice of service was to join the Royal Flying Corps.

William enlisted in November 1916, initially as a Sapper in the Royal Engineers, and transferred as a Private to the Northumberland Fusiliers on 13 September 1917. He transferred back to the Royal Engineers in February 1918. He was described as a proficient gas fitter.  He went to France on the 9th September 1917.  He was admitted to hospital on two occasions, the second time with cellulitis, he spent 58 days in Beaucroft Red Cross Hospital in Wimborne, Dorset.  William was awarded the British War and Allied Victory medals.

William passed through Peterborough East Station on 12 January 1917 and wrote in the visitors’ book “Very pleased with the (Comfort) at Sailors & Soldiers Rest Room Peterborough”

William survived the war and in 1919 he married Eleanor Perkins at Southwell, Notts.  They had three children, Margaret, born in Southwell in 1921, Vivien (1923) and Melvyn (1924) both born in Newark, Notts.

We have traced William and Eleanor in the 1939 Register and they are living at 24 King Street, Southwell, Nottinghamshire and William is working as a gas fitter.  Also living with them is their daughter Margaret, a shop assistant.  William died in Newark, Notts, in 1975, aged 82 years.

William’s brother, Cecil Ernest Chenery served with the 15^th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Prince Of Wales Own, Civil Service Rifles), and was killed in action on Saturday 7 October 1916 aged 22 years; he is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.

Is your family name Chenery.  Please get in touch if you can tell us more about William and his family.