PEOPLE IN PORTSMOUTH

 

Lives Lived and Lives Lost - Portsmouth and the Great War

WILLIAM THOMAS AMEY
 
The history of William Thomas and his connection to Portsmouth is rather brief. He appears in the 1911 census (as Thomas Amey) but has not been traced in earlier records apart from his marriage and his birth in Stockbridge, Hampshire in 1881.
 
The 1911 census lists him at 140 Wingfield Street, Landport with his wife Ellen and their daughter Violet who was born in 1906. William Thomas was described as a 'railway carrier's carman'. He married Ellen Amelia, the daughter of Charles and Amelia Courage in 1902.
 
At the outbreak of the Great War William Thomas was a 33 year old married man with a family and would not therefore have been expected to volunteer for the army. In 1916 conscription was introduced and he subsequently enlisted in August that year and was assigned to the Wiltshire Regiment. He fought with them in many actions finally losing his life in April 1917 at the Battle of Arras.
 
FURTHER INFORMATION
 
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) list WT Amey, Private (31932), Wiltshire Regiment, died 09/04/1917. Buried at Wancourt British Cemetery (Grave Ref: VI.E.14.). Son of Charles and Sarah Amey, of Wimborne, Dorset; husband of Ellen Amelia Amey, of 29, Belgrave St., Southsea, Portsmouth, Hants.
 
William Thomas Amey is commemorated on the St. Luke's Church WW1 Memorial (as William T. Amey) and the Cenotaph, in Guildhall Square, Portsmouth. He is listed in "The National Roll of the Great War", Section X, p3.
 
Tim Backhouse
December 2014