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Record #18311

Name :: : William WATERSON (1897 - 1918)
Father: :
Mother: :

BMD and other details

Date of Birth: : 5 Mar 1897
Marriage (1): :
Marriage (2): :
Date of Death: : 10 Aug 1918 Notes : Killed in Action

Abode (1) : Place of BirthEngland, Norfolk, Norwich

Abode (2) : Place of Death / BurialFrance

Sailing Information

Date of Arrival: : 9 May 1913
Country: : Canada
Ship: : Empress of Britain
Placement Family: :

Homes / Agencys

Institution (GB): :
Agency: : Sailing Alone

NotesAge 21 Son of William Waterson of 19 Union St Cooks Place Norwich Norfolk England, 195236 Private
William Waterson

2nd Btn Cdn Inf (Eastern Ont. Regiment), Army
Date of Death: Died of wounds 10th August 1918
Next of Kin listed as Mrs. E Waterson, 19A Union Street, Crooks Place, Norwich, Norfolk.
Commemorated at:
Crouy British Cemetery Crouy Sur Somme, Somme, France
(information from the Maple Leaf Project)

William enlisted on October 15, 1915 in Peterborough, Ontario.

First World War medals coming home

By Galen Eagle, Peterborough Examiner
Wednesday, April 11, 2012 3:10:21 EDT AM

It's 1918 in the midst of the First World War when a young man and his Canadian infantry party were crawling through the dirty banks of a trench taking on enemy fire at close range.

The young man was an English orphan named William Waterson who came to Peterborough as a home boy at 16 to work as a farm labourer. As a member of a Peterborough militia, Mr. Waterson signed his attestation papers to join the war in October 1915 as an 18-year-old.

With his party taking on fire in the trench that day, Mr. Waterson crept within yards of an enemy post and unleashed his Lewis gun, a light Second Word War-era automatic machine gun.

That didn't effectively silence the enemy, so Mr. Waterson joined another man, worked up the trench and charged the station, killing at least 10.

That horrific account of trench warfare was found in several paragraphs in the Nov. 15, 1918 edition of the London Gazette, mere days after the end of the war.

The account was the impetus behind Mr. Waterson's awarding of the prestigious Distinguished Conduct Medal, the second highest commendation for a non-commissioned officer.

By the time that account was published, Mr. Waterson was already dead, having been killed in action Aug. 10, 1918 at the age of 21.

What happened to his medal is unknown, except that it eventually returned to England where it was put up for sale on eBay last week with two more of Mr. Waterson's war medals.

Cue Dave Thomson, a St. George, Ont. man, who has an unusual hobby. For years Thomson has been trawling eBay for Canadian war medals in an attempt to reunite them with descendants or communities. He's reunited some 585 medals across Canada.

On April 2, Thomson contacted The Examiner and local veterans advocate Dave Edgerton and a campaign was launched to purchase the medals and return them to Peterborough.

In less than a week Edgerton, the former Royal Canadian Legion Branch 52 president who spearheaded the campaign to build the Wall of Honour, had $2,900 in donations and pledges.

On Monday night, Thomson successfully convinced the British seller to remove the medals from auction and privately sell them to Edgerton for 2,000 British pounds, the equivalent of about $3,185 Canadian.

"This is a community heirloom," Thomson said. "It is going to be a good feeling for the people of Peterborough to know that they have rallied behind this and they are bringing their hero home."

The seller's grandfather had been close friends with Mr. Waterson, Thomson said, and the man was selling some possessions, having fallen on tough financial times.

"Once I told him that these were going back to Peterborough, this fellow's adopted home, (the seller) was absolutely elated. The medal was something he cherished," Thomson said. "He has had these medals for years."

Edgerton is still looking to raise another $500 to meet the price of the purchase, shipping and framing of the medals.

He is in talks with the city about having the medals mounted in the Memorial Centre, he said.

Edgerton praised Thomson's keen interest and said the medals would never have come to the attention of Peterborough residents without his help.

Thomson said he gets a thrill out of making a successful reunion.

"That's the joy I get out of this, notifying families and communities and bringing back a piece of their hero's history," he said.

Anyone interested in pledging money to the Edgerton's campaign can contact him at 705-745-9083.

Full military file online:
{website}data2.collectionscanada.gc.ca/cef/10001-11000/10122-11.pdf

Find A Grave Memorial# 56040495

ContributorsCreated : 2012-11-21 08:06:20 / From original database

Last Updated : 2015-09-03 23:25:53 / alanmack

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Readers Comments

Surnames starting with: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 30 Entries

Page: [1] 2 3 70 Entries

ID	Name	DOB	Place of birth	Arrivals & Ships	Dest.	Agency	Family links
3179	ALDRED, John Benedict	1896	ENG, NFK, Loddon	Feb 1911 : Megantic	CAN	Labourers & Domestics
16245	ARTHURTON, Frederick John	1900	ENG, NFK, Mitford	Sep 1907 : Dominion	CAN	Barnardos
16227	ARTHURTON, William Ernest	1903	ENG, NFK, Weston Longville	Oct 1911 : Corinthian	CAN	Barnardos
6455	BALES, Arthur	1890	ENG, NFK, Docking	Apr 1900 : Cambroman	CAN	Barnardos
9136	BARBER, Ernest Ford	1892	ENG, NFK, Great Yarmouth	Apr 1905 : Kensington	CAN	Barnardos
16028	BARTRAM, Alfred James	1887	ENG, NFK, Norwich	Apr 1902 : Dominion	CAN	Barnardos
10069	BEATTY, Emmaline	1879	ENG, NFK, Kings Lynn	Mar 1892 : Mongolian	CAN	Maria Rye
3911	BLAKE, Emily Hilda	1878	ENG, NFK, Chedgrave	May 1888 : Lake Superior	CAN	Self-Help Emigration Society
12832	BLOWERS, Clifford	1887	ENG, NFK, Loddon	Sep 1898 : Dominion	CAN	Barnardos
12833	BLOWERS, Gladys	1890	ENG, NFK, Loddon	Jul 1900 : Tunisian	CAN	Barnardos
2840	BOWLES, Arthur	1874	ENG, NFK, Runhall	Jun 1889 : Vancouver	CAN	Church of England
4556	BRUNNING, Ethel Denny	1890	ENG, NFK, Yarmouth	Jul 1904 : Southwark	CAN	Barnardos
4557	BRUNNING, May Denny	1891	ENG, NFK, Yarmouth	Jul 1904 : Southwark	CAN	Barnardos
17460	BUTTON, Herbert	1887	ENG, NFK	Apr 1905 : Kensington	CAN	Barnardos
9605	CABLE, Ernest	1896	ENG, NFK, Fakenham	Apr 1911 : Empress of Britain	CAN	Fegan Homes for Boys
7201	CANNELL, Owen Inglose	1904	ENG, NFK, Smallburgh	Mar 1921 : Melita	CAN	Sailing Alone
27042	CHECKLEY, Raymond George	1916	ENG, NFK, Kings Lynn	Oct 1928 : Beltana	AUS	Fairbridge Homes
2841	COOK, Samuel	1875	ENG, NFK	Jun 1889 : Vancouver	CAN	Church of England
16652	COURTMAN, James	1881	ENG, NFK, Yarmouth	Aug 1891 : Numidian	CAN	Barnardos
8927	CUSHION, Frederick	1915	ENG, NFK, Sheringham	Apr 1931 : Duchess of Richmond	CAN	Barnardos
5063	DENISON, Geoffrey	1914	ENG, NFK	Mar 1930 : Duchess of Richmond	CAN	Barnardos
6024	DISNEY, Harold	1901	ENG, NFK, Mutford	Aug 1910 : Tunisian	CAN	Barnardos
10430	DOBBIE, Ada	1875	ENG, NFK, Langham	Jun 1883 : Circassian	CAN	MacPherson Homes
16484	DYBALL, Harold Reginald	1905	ENG, NFK, Smallburgh	Jun 1921 : Scandinavian	CAN	Barnardos
16654	FRENCH, Thomas Lewis	1877	ENG, NFK, Yarmouth	Aug 1891 : Numidian	CAN	Barnardos
21278	GEORGE, Frank B	1914	ENG, NFK, Wayland	Jun 1929 : Berrima	AUS	Barnardos
8913	GRIMWOOD, Gertrude	1893	ENG, NFK	May 1906 : Tunisian	CAN	Unknown
27094	HALLEWELL, Reginald Stanley Colville	1916	ENG, NFK, Downham	Jun 1929 : Largs Bay	AUS	Fairbridge Homes
3390	HANSELL, Albert George	1895	ENG, NFK, Norwich	Mar 1910 : Tunisian	CAN	Barnardos
26895	HARTEN, Kathleen A.	1915	ENG, NFK, Walsingham	Jun 1930 : Dutchess of York	CAN	Destination: St.George�s Home, 1153 Wellington St., Ottawa, Ontario
ID	Name	DOB	Place of birth	Arrivals & Ships	Dest.	Agency	Family links

Page: [1] 2 3 70 Entries

Surnames starting with: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 30 Entries

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