‘W. Scotcher’ is recorded in the Ilford County High School register as having joined the school on 1st July 1902 with his brother. They had previously studied at Cleveland Road Elementary School. When the Cleveland School War Memorial was revealed from behind the wooden panelling in the main school hall in 2011, his name was included.
William (recorded Walter on the memorial) was born on 17th March 1890. His parents’ names were Charles and Rebecca and the family lived in Balfour Road. His father was a travelling salesman for a printing company. He had two younger brothers, Henry and John.
William’s destination upon leaving school was recorded in school records as ‘People’s Palace.’ In 1906, he started a five year engineering apprenticeship for GER Locomotive, aged 16. He became a draftsman for the company in 1911 and received the freedom of the city of London in 1913.
He is recorded on the first Roll of Honour (in the Christmas 1914 school magazine). It gives his regiment as the Coldstreams. However, by the time of his death, he had joined the new and very dangerous Royal Air Force. He died on 15th September 1918 when his aircraft crashed at Bekesbourne Aerodrome near Canterbury. He is buried in Ilford’s Buckingham Road Cemetery (Grave 3203). He was mentioned in despatches in the London Gazette and received the Military Cross (M.C.)
Research by Andrew Emeny, History Teacher at ICHS
Sources:
Ancestry.com
ICHS school records and magazines
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Note
Ilford County High School started life as the Park Higher Grade School in 1901 in Balfour Road, Ilford. It was renamed Ilford County High School (or initially County High School, Ilford) in the years after the school’s management was transferred from Ilford School Board to Essex Education Committee in 1904.