1st Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment
It is believed that William James Bendall was born in Berkeley, Gloucestershire in 1889, the son of William and Mary Bendall, his father’s occupation (according to the 1891 Census) being a dock labourer (no doubt at the neighbouring Sharpness Docks).
It would appear that William followed on from his father as according to the 1911 Census his occupation was a dock labourer. At that time he was living at Hickness Row, Berkeley, along with his wife, Lois, who was born in Dursley. William had married Mary Elizabeth Lois Malpass in 1908. The couple had a son (named after his father), who died under the age of one in 1910 and subsequently had a son and daughter, born in 1911 and 1914 respectively.
Unfortunately little is known of William’s Army service. No Army Service Record appears to have survived the destruction of the majority of such records, due to enemy action in 1940. His Medal Index Card confirms that he served with the Gloucestershire Regiment and states that he joined the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France on 19 January 1915. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission Register notes that he served with the 1st Battalion of the Glosters and the volume Soldiers Died in the Great War states that he enlisted in Bristol.
The 1st Battalion of the Glosters was a Regular Army Battalion which saw action during BEF’s retreat from Mons in August 1914. No doubt William Bendall was part of a draft to replace casualties incurred in the autumn of 1914. As he was drafted in so early in the war he may well have had some form of military training prior to the war – in the Militia or Territorial Force, rather than answering Lord Kitchener’s call for men to join the ‘New Army’, most of whom did not see service overseas until much later in 1915. Another indication is the fact that he was a Lance Corporal, although in the absence of a Service Record, it is not possible to confirm the date of promotion from Private.
It is likely that William Bendall saw action with the 1st Glosters at the Battle of Aubers Ridge (9 May 1915) and at the Battle of Loos (25 September to 8 October 1915). The battalion (part of 3rd Brigade, 1st Division) joined the Somme Offensive on 6 July 1916 and was in action near Contalmaison on the 14th. On 8 September it took part in an attack on the south western face of High Wood. Leading waves gained objectives after incurring high casualties from the British barrage falling short onto their assembly trenches. Later that day, after coming under heavy fire and bombardment, a withdrawal was ordered to New Trench. Over 200 casualties were sustained.
Lance Corporal Bendall was probably one of the wounded of this action. He would have been passed down the casualty line and admitted to one of the base hospitals on the French coast, prior to evacuation to the UK. The Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects 1901-1929 records that his death occurred at sea, on 14 September 1916, on board HM Hospital Ship Aberdonian, which would have been carrying him back across the Channel.
He was buried in his home town of Berkeley, where a CWGC headstone now marks his grave. He was aged 27. He is commemorated on the Roll of Honour in St Mary the Virgin, Berkeley.
Researched by Graham Adams 29 April 2016 (revised)