Died aged 34. 25 April 1883 – 16 April 1915
Service Number 34471. Driver, 10th Bty. 147th Bde. Royal Field Artillery
The 1881 census was taken on the 3rd of April, and William’s family were living at 23 Little Guilford Street, St George Bloomsbury, St Giles, London & Middlesex. The family consisted of his father William (37, a carpenter, born Aston, Oxfordshire), his mother Mary Ann (33, born Middlesex), and his siblings Richard (10), Ada (4), and Rosa Jane (2).
It was into this family that William Frederick Thomas Piddington was born, three weeks after the census was taken on the 25th April 1881, at 23 Little Guilford Street. baptised 8 Oct 1883 in St Pancras, Camden. Son of William and Mary Ann (nee Stack) Piddington. William and Mary Ann had a daughter, Alice Rose, baptised on the same day. Alice was born on 6 August 1883. At the time of William’s baptism, William senior was a carpenter. The family lived at 30 Little George Street.
William was working as a carman when at the age of 18, he joined the army in St Pancras in 1899. Driver, Royal Field Artillery 10th Bty. 147th Bde. Service Number 34471. William’s service record describes him as being 5’ 5½”, weighed 122lbs, had a dark complexion, brown eyes and black hair; his eyebrows meet, he had scars on his head and forehead, and dots on his left forearm. He attested in London on 4 April 1899; at this time, he was living in St Pancras, London, and was working as a Carman. He joined the Royal Field Artillery at Woolwich on 10 April 1899, and immediately started work as a driver. In this context, a driver was a soldier trained in the management and use of horses.
He remained a driver throughout his army career, which included serving in India in 1901 and 1904. Following the expiration of his army service, William transferred to the reserves on 3rd April 1906. His conduct and character were described as “Very good, a thoroughly sober and steady man. Accustomed to the care of horses and a good groom. Can ride and drive.” Upon leaving the army, he hoped to become a chauffeur, and had been instructed in driving by the Union Motor Company.
William married Edith Mary Webber (born Cutcombe) on 25 April 1906 at the Register Office, Kensington; E Webber and J Evans were witnesses. The couple had three children: Edith Freda b.6 Oct 1906 in Holborn, Vera Florence Maud b.21 May 1908 in Dunster, and Viola Doreen Rose b.22 July 1910 in Dunster. The 1911 census records William (28, a postman) as living at 1 Perelle Villas, Greenwood Road, Worle, Weston-Super-Mare with his wife Edith (24) and their daughters Freda (4), Vera (2) and Viola (8 months). According to the census, Vera was born in High Holborn and Vera and Viola in Timberscombe.
William re-enlisted between 1911 – 1914 and was mobilised for WW1 at Hilsea (Hampshire) on 4 April 1914. On 16 April 1915 he was recorded as “feared drowned in the Mediterranean.”
From Dunster Museum: “Died at Sea on 16 April, 1915. At this time the 10th Battery was serving with the 147th (2nd West Riding) Brigade in the 49th (West Riding) Division. This was part of the territorial Force of the British Army. Just nine days before the Gallipoli landings, the 147th Brigade was on the transport ship SS Manitou en route to Gallipoli. It was accosted by the Turkish torpedo boat Timur Hissar at about 10am. According to witnesses, the ship was given between 3 and 10 minutes to abandon ship. The ship was carrying enough lifeboats for 240 men. As one lifeboat was lowered carrying 60 men, a davit broke, causing the boat to crash into the hull of the ship and overturn spilling the men into the sea. 50 of these men were to drown. After 20 minutes, the torpedo boat, from a range of 50 to 900 yards, fired 3 torpedoes at the SS Manitou, all of which missed. In response to urgent wireless calls, HMS Dartmouth arrived and the Timur Hissar fled. It was run aground and destroyed just one day later. The SS Manitou proceeded on its journey to the island of Lemnos. William Piddington and 49 other British soldiers died from drowning in this tragedy. All 50 men are remembered at Helles Memorial near Sedd el Bahr, in South-Western Turkey. All the names are inscribed on the memorial as “soldiers buried at sea”.”
William’s service record gives his father as his next of kin, and his father’s addresses as Great Wylde Street (location unknown) and underneath this as Park Street, Dunster. A letter dated 13 July 1915 gives Edith’s address as Ellicombe Coombe, Alcombe, and a letter dated 27 December 1915 has Edith as 11 Farmer Street, Notting Hill Gate. 13 August 1919, a letter in response to a query as to the address of his widow, says that “I have ascertained that Mrs Piddington is now residing at 2 Park Street, Dunster.” The commonwealth War Graves Commission gives his next of kin as his mother Mary Ann Piddington and his wife Edith Mary Piddington, of West St., Dunster.
William is commemorated on the plaques in St George’s Church & Memorial Hall in Dunster and on Panel 21 to 23 of the Helles Memorial, Turkey.
