Bill Williams

William Thomas Williams, known as Bill, was baptised at Swindon, Staffordshire on 20th October 1889. He was the second child and eldest son of parents, Isaac and Harriet Williams. By the time he was two years old, the family had moved to nearby Wombourne, and were living at Main Street, Blakeley. They moved to Wolverhampton c.1892 before returning to Swindon around 1902.

Initially, Bill joined the same ironworking firm as his father – E. P. & W. Baldwin – and was described as a labourer in the sheet works at the time of the 1911 census when he was living with his maternal grandparents at Canalside, Swindon. He was still recorded as an ironworker when he married, aged 27, on 24th January 1917. His address at this time was given as High Street, Swindon, apparently a few doors away from the Greyhound pub, according to my late cousin, Ernie. See further details of the Williams family in Swindon.

Within four years of their marriage, the couple had moved to 6, Wrottesley Road, Tettenhall, and Bill was working as a driver for the Midland News Association (publishers of the Express & Star newspaper), Queen Street, Wolverhampton. He worked for the company for many years before subsequently becoming a chauffeur at local funeral directors, J. R. Thorneycroft & Son, Chestnut House, School Road, Tettenhall Wood.

By 1928, the Williams family had moved to Woodland Avenue, Tettenhall Wood,

Bill died, aged 82, on 30th October 1971. His funeral was arranged by Thorneycrofts, the undertakers for whom he had worked. He was buried in Pattingham with his wife, Ethel, who had died 19 months earlier. There is no gravestone and church records simply record the grave as being in the old part of the churchyard. Family members remember visiting the grave as children, and describe going through a metal gate into the churchyard and seeing the grave close to the wall, covered in a mound of daffodils. It’s believed that the view below depicts the site of Bill and Ethel’s grave in the space adjacent to the trees.