Royal Army Medical Corp
William Brooks is a case where, in the absence of an Army Service or Pension Record, very little is known of his military service.
In fact, likewise, it has been very difficult to find anything relating to his early life. He appears to have been born in Mickleton, in about 1897. It has not proved possible to establish his parentage. The 1911 Census records him living in Mickleton with his grandmother, Mrs Ann Brooks, who was a domestic charwoman.
Soldiers Died in the Great War records that he enlisted in Birmingham and his Medal Rolls Index Card states that he first went to the Western Front on 10 September 1915. Unless he had concealed his real age when enlisting, he would not have been permitted to be posted overseas until the age of 19. It would appear likely, therefore, that he enlisted very early in the war. For reasons unknown, could be wounds or sickness, he must have been repatriated to the UK and sent to the Cambridge Military Hospital at Aldershot, Hampshire. Here he died on 20 March 1916, aged 19. A recently released Pension Record Card states his condition to be ‘Ent.ad’, wholly impaired, which means little. It does, however, confirm Mrs Ann Brooks (grandmother) as his next of kin (and notes that she died on 18 March 1922).
Private William Brooks was buried in the churchyard of St Lawrence, Mickleton, on 23 March 1916 and a standard CWGC headstone now marks his grave. He is commemorated on the Mickleton village war memorial.
Researched by Graham Adams 29 September 2020