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Record #4711
Name :
: William MAYBURY (1892 - 1917)
  aka : William Maburay


Father
:
Mother
:
BMD and other details
Date of Birth
: 2 May 1892

Marriage (1)
:
Marriage (2)
:

Date of Death
: 1 Dec 1917   Notes : Killed in Action - from service
Abode (1) : Place of BirthEngland, Yorkshire, Sheffield
Abode (2) : Place of Death / BurialFrance, Passchendaele
Sailing Information
Date of Arrival
: 24 Jul 1903
Country
: Canada

Ship
: Dominion

Placement Family
:
Homes / Agencys
Institution (GB)
:

Agency
: Barnardos
NotesA birth registration was found for William Maburay: Year of Registration: 1892; Quarter of Registration: Apr-May-Jun; District: Sheffield; County: South Yorkshire, Yorkshire - West Riding; Volume: 9c; Page: 648. Mother: Emma Maybury.

Their mother (Emily) died in England soon after the birth of her third child, George, in 1900. She had been legally married to Samuel Maybury who died years previous to the birth of William, Elsie and George. Following the death of Samuel Maybury, Emily, then an impoverished widow, took in a roomer and lived with a man of the name William Hancock, who was several years her junior. The couple had William, Elsie and George. On the marriage registrations of Elsie and George the father is listed as "William" Maybury.

Their father, William Hancock, was listed on documents as putative, and died of dropsy.

Their half-siblings said they could not afford to take care of the three children and took them to Barnardo Homes. According to the documentation, Will was "a bastard - the result of immoral relations - and belonged, until the authorities took him away, to a drunken family, the grandmother included."

In 1903, W. Maybury, 9 (along with sister, Elsie Maybury, 8) arrived at Quebec, Canada, in a group of 262 Barnardo boys en route to Toronto, Ontario, and Winnipeg and Russell, Manitoba, Canada. William and Elsie Maybury were immediately separated. Both went to different farms in southwestern Ontario. According to the November 1903 issue of 'Ups and Downs', the quarterly magazine of Dr. Barnardo's Canadian Homes, William Maybury was placed with Mr. Edward Jackson Arkona, Ontario, Canada.

George was considered too young at the time to come over. He arrived on the Tunisian in 1912 after receiving a British education.

They were apart yet thrived. Annual "check-ups" found them well and happy in their new land.

Will's nephew (George's son), George Maybury, believes that William was reunited with Elsie in 1912 and later on Elsie was reunited with George, but he doesn't believe the three were ever reunited together before Will died in battle at Ypres.

"Elsie continually wrote to the Barnardo Homes to try and get George moved closer to them, but it appears the brothers never met again."

By 1914, Will and Elsie had reconnected and were living in the same small town of Brussels. Elsie had sent the little brother photographs of her and Will picnicking with a young man and woman. Will seems a ham, even wearing his girlfriend's hat in one photo.

On November 19, 1915, William Maybury, 23, enlisted in the Canadian Armed Forces. He declared that he residedin Brussels, Ontario, Canada; that he was born in Sheffield, England; that his next of kin was his sister, Elsie Maybury, who resided in Brussels, Ontario, Canada; that his date of birth was May 2, 1892; that he was a farmer; and that he was not married. He was described as 5 foot 8 inches in height; dark complexion; brown hair; brown eyes. He was a member of the Methodist faith.

He went off to train in England, using his downtime to travel to Sheffield in the hopes of tracking relatives. It is not known what he found there.

Will Maybury's only saved postcard home read: "We are going to leave for France tonight. Will write you from France. Bye bye."

Cpl. William Maybury commanded a small group of men who fired mortars from the heart of battle. In the spring of 1917, he helped take Vimy Ridge. That summer, on a muddy field near Lens, France, a German bunker was captured by a small band of soldiers with the Canadian Expeditionary Force Canadian II Division. But the Germans had put up a big fight in The Battle of Hill 70, as it was known, launching over 10 days a steady barrage of artillery, mustard gas and flame-throwers at the Canadians. Cpl. William Maybury was in charge of that battle and survived the onslaught, but was mortally wounded by shrapnel months later at Passchendaele. He died in a French hospital from his infected wounds five weeks later on December 1, 1917, just 25 years old.

Cpl. William Maybury is buried at No. 2 Stationary Cemetery, Abbeyville, France.

More information about the Maybury family can be seen in Barnardo Boy, featuring William Maybury's life and death, is a fascinating History Television documentary shown as part of a series called "Finding the Fallen."

Extracts from Publications Globe and Mail, The 10 November 2008, page A2 Web Link A moving tale of lives lost and found THIS COUNTRY: REMEMBERING THE FALLEN A moving tale of lives lost and found ROY MacGREGOR November 10, 2008 They say the good die young, but losing your life twice by the time you're 25 seems a bit much. Still, this is Will Maybury's story: the good young man who fought, and died, for the country that abandoned him. He was a "bastard" - the result of "immoral relations" - and belonged, until the authorities took him away, to "a drunken family, the grandmother included." At least that's the way the official documents once described him. Today, the broken family he helped put back together prefers to think of him as a "hero." Corporal Will Maybury was hit by shrapnel at Passchendaele on October 28, 1917. He died from his infected wounds five weeks later. It is hard for anyone today to imagine the horrors of the 25th year of his short life. He commanded a small group of men who fired mortars from the heart of battle. In the spring of 1917, he helped take Vimy Ridge. In summer, he fought in the Battle of Hill 70. In the fall it was Passchendaele. By then he would have known his luck was running thin, if not altogether out. But then, it was always hard to tell whether Will Maybury was very lucky or very unlucky. He was born in Sheffield, England, in 1892 to an impoverished widow who had taken in a roomer. A sister, Elsie, followed two years later and, six more years later, brother George was born. They were undernourished and illegitimate and, eventually, the authorities moved in and shipped Will, 11, and Elsie, 9, off to Canada where they became two of the many thousands of "Bernardo Children" sent to the colony to serve as farm helpers and domestic servants - some would say "slaves." They both ended up in Ontario, but in different communities, and did not see each other for 10 years, by which time little George had also been shipped out to Canada. They were apart yet thrived. Annual "check-ups" found them well and happy in their new land. By 1914, Will and Elsie had reconnected and were living in the same small town of Brussels. They had also tracked down George, and Elsie had sent the little brother photographs of her and Will picnicking with a young man and woman. Will seems a ham, even wearing his girlfriend's hat in one photo. In the last picture, he is in uniform, looking very serious. He went off to train in England, using his downtime to travel to Sheffield in the hopes of tracking relatives. It is not known what he found there. In fact, hardly anything at all would be known of Cpl. Will Maybury were it not for a History Channel project called Finding the Fallen. Archeologists working nine decades after the Battle of Hill 70 found evidence that Maybury and his men had commandeered a German mortar pit, turning it against the Germans who tried, unsuccessfully, to retake the vital ground more than 30 times in a bitter 10-day battle. Using these field findings, a historian and a genealogical expert eventually worked their way to three living Mayburys in Canada, the descendants of Will's little brother George, who had also died young but who left behind a wife and infant son. That little boy, also called George, had long been curious about his family. When he died several years ago, he left behind what the children had come to call "The Family Tickle Trunk" stuffed with papers from the Bernardo foundation, those few photographs and a lot of unanswered questions. Yap Films, producers of the eight-episode series that begins tomorrow evening with Bernardo Boy, took the contents of the Tickle Trunk, added in a series of letters Will had written to sister Elsie that had been reprinted in the local weekly, and began putting Will Maybury's lost life back together. It is a powerful, moving tale of lives lost and lives found. "The whole experience kind of caught us off-guard," says the third George Maybury, who lives in Pembroke, Ont. "Up to that point, they had been just strangers on paper." What most intrigues today's Mayburys is how a boy who was abandoned by his country would then feel an obligation to return to fight for that country. Will Maybury was but one of 6,000 "Bernardo Boys" who enlisted - some 500 of them not coming "home" to Canada. "Today," says George Maybury, "it would be all about animosity and frustration, not about going off to defend king and country. "But he stepped up - and I respect him for that." He stepped up, as so many did, knowing that the chances of returning unharmed from the front lines were slim indeed. "He survived Vimy Ridge," says David Maybury, who works in Ottawa for National Defence. "He survived Hill 70. But he didn't survive Passchendaele. "He almost made it." The Maybury Family Tickle Trunk held but a single postcard with Will Maybury's own handwriting, but someone had glued paper over it and it was unreadable. A forensic scientist took the card and carefully removed the cover so Will Maybury's only saved message home could finally be read: "We are going to leave for France tonight. Will write you from France. "Bye bye." 
ContributorsCreated : 2009-02-13 11:03:24 / From original database

Last Updated : 2013-10-06 15:56:44 /

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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  3 Entries        
IDNameDOBPlace of birthArrivals & ShipsDest.AgencyFamily links
4712 MAYBURY, Elsie Hancock1895ENG, YKS, Sheffield Jul 1903 : Dominion CAN Barnardos  
4713 MAYBURY, George1899ENG, YKS, Sheffield Jun 1912 : Tunisian CAN Barnardos  
4711 MAYBURY, William1892ENG, YKS, Sheffield Jul 1903 : Dominion CAN Barnardos