No.3/9754, Private, William James STEELE
Aged 39
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Born in 1882 (1st qtr Bury St.Edmunds 4a:650) son of William James and Jane STEELE(née COBBOLD)
1891 census...Aged 9, he was at 68 Short Brackland, Bury St.Edmunds with his widower father William STEELE [28] bootmaker and brother George Thomas [7]. All were born in Bury St.Edmunds His mother had died in 1886 and father married Susannah GOOCH in 1893. 1901 census...Aged 19, he was in the Army in Alderney. His father and stepmother Susannah {36] born Cockfield, were at 73 Cannon Street, Bury St.Edmunds with his brother George (draper's porter); half brothers John [10], Frederick [7] and Bertie [4]; half sister Florence} He married Frances PETTITT in 1904 1911 census...Aged 29, a railway labourer, he was at 19 Church Row, Bury St.Edmunds with his wife Frances [27] born Nowton; their three sons, Herbert William [6], Eustace George [4] and Arthur James [2]; grandfather Thomas PETTITT [70] born Sicklesmere. The pension card has his widow at 18 Tayfen Road, Bury St.Edmunds but no mention of the children |
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He enlisted in Bury St.Edmunds.
The Bury Free Press on 1st May 1920 had the following report:- MILITARY HONOURS were accorded the funeral of ex-Corpl William James Steele of 18 Tayfen Road, which took place at the Borough Cemetery on Monday afternoon. The Rev.W.H.Colman was the officiating clergyman. After three volleys had been fired over the grave, buglers from the Suffolk Depot sounded the "Last Post"....[list of mourners]. Ex Corpl Steele joined the Militia in May 1900, from which he was discharged in 1906, having seen service in the Channel Islands and in Ireland. On September 4th 1914 he re-joined the Army at Bury St.Edmunds and was sent to France the following May with the 8th Suffolk Regiment. He was returned home, gassed, in the early part of 1916 and was in great suffering, but he bore with splendid courage and patience his affliction, undergoing treatment in the Northgate Red Cross Hospital and in the Sanitorium. He passed away at his home on April 2st at the age of 38. Much sympathy is extended to the relatives.
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