William Stevenitt Bacon

William Stevenitt Bacon was the son of John Wharmby and Georgina Susan Bacon (née Sentance). His father John Wharmby Bacon was born in Nottingham in 1871. His mother Georgina Susan (Susan) was born in Batley, Yorkshire, the daughter of Robert Sentance and his wife Emily (née Stevenitt formerly Sentance). John and Susan were married at Radford St Peter in June 1893 and had three children: Samuel George (George) b. Nottingham 1893, William Stevenitt b. Shardlow 1896 and Florence b. Shardlow Dec. 1898 (reg. 1899). John, a gardener (domestic), his wife and their three children were living at 8 St Paul's Street, Nottingham, in 1901. By 1911 the family had moved to 7 Vane Street, Radford. John was a municipal gardener (Nottingham Corporation) and both his sons were in work, George as a carter (bakery) and William a store room assistant (tobacco manufacturer). At the time of William's death in 1917, the family was living at 1 Ednaston Road, Dunkirk, Nottingham. John, his wife and their daughter Florence were still at the same address in 1939 when the England and Wales Register was compiled. George had married in 1920 and in 1939 he, his wife and their son were living in Leicester where he was employed as a porter/railway guard with the additional wartime responsiblity of station fireman; he died in 1976. Susan died in 1947 and her husband in 1953. Their daughter Florence continued to live in the family home at Dunkirk until her death in 1992. According to a notice of William's death in the local paper, his brother George also served in France during the war.

In 1911 he was a store room assistant at John Player & Sons, tobacco manufacturers.

Enlisted Nottingham

11th Bn Royal Warwickshire Regiment formerly 4765 Sherwood Foresters (Notts & Derby Regiment). William was killed in action on 9th December 1917 and is buried in Voormezeele Enclosure No. 3, Belgium. (grave reference l.AA.1). CWGC - History of Voormezeele Enclosure No. 3 (extract): The cemetery is 4km from Ieper (Ypres). 'The Voormizeele Enclosures (at one time there were a total of four, but now reduced to three) were originally regimental groups of graves, begun very early in the First World War and gradually increased until the village and the cemeteries were captured by the Germans after very heavy fighting on 29 April 1918. Voormezeele Enclosure No.3, the largest of these burial grounds, was begun by the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry in February 1915. Their graves are in Plot III, the other Plots from I to IX are the work of other units, or pairs of units, and include a few graves of October 1918. Plots X and XII are of a more general character. Plots XIII to XVI were made after the Armistice when graves were brought in from isolated sites and smaller cemeteries to replace the French graves (of April and September 1918) that were removed to a French cemetery. These concentrated graves cover the months from January 1915 to October 1918, and they include those of many men of the 15th Hampshires and other units who recaptured this ground early in September 1918.' (www.cwgc.org)

Two of William's uncles, his mother's brothers, also died in the war. Walter Sentance served with the 2/7th Bn. Sherwood Foresters (266483 Private) and was killed in action on 21 March 1918. Harry Sentance served in the 3rd Bn. Grenadier Guards (12226 Private) and died of wounds on 14 August 1918. (See records on this Roll of Honour) CWGC headstone personal inscription: 'Rest in peace' CWGC additional information: 'Son of John W. and Susan G. Bacon, of 1, Ednaston Rd., Dunkirk, Nottingham.' Nottingham Evening Post, ‘Roll of Honour’, 2 & 3 January 1918: ‘Bacon. Killed in action, December 9th, 1917, Private William Stevenitt Bacon, Royal Warwicks, 1, Ednaston-road, Dunkirk, aged 21 years. Ever in our memory. From his sorrowing father, mother, sister and brother George (in France).’ (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk) 'In memoriam' notice 9th December 1918, Nottingham Evening Post:- “BACON. – In loving memory of our dear son and brother, Pte. William Stevenitt, Royal Warwicks, 1 Ednaston Road, Dunkirk, killed in action December 9th, 1917. Always in our thoughts. – From mother, father, brother, & sister.” Courtesy of Jim Grundy and his facebook pages Small Town Great War Hucknall 1914-1918 Nottingham Evening Post, ‘In Memoriam,’ 9 December 1919: ‘Bacon. In loving memory of our dear son, Pte William Stevenitt Bacon, R. Warwicks, 1 Ednaston-road, Dunkirk, fell in action December 9th, 1917. Mother, father, brother and sister. Memory clings.’ (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk) Registers of Soldiers' Effects: his mother was his sole legatee. WW1 Pension Ledgers: named his father, residence Dunkirk.