William Henry Grinham

William Henry Grinham
Rank 
Private
Regiment 
Gloucestershire Regiment
Date of death 
21 March 1918
Age of death 
22
Address 
29 Milverton Gardens
Seven Kings
Ilford
IG3 8DS
Address source 
1911 Census
Cemetery / Memorial 
France
Photo source 
Homage: A Record of our Heroes (a commemorative booklet produced by Seven Kings United Methodist Church c.1920
Biography 

Born 27th September 1895

Killed near St. Quentin, Friday 22nd March 1918

Will Grinham was an old Downshall and Essex County High School boy and began his career with the London City & Midland Bank. A scholar in our Sunday School from 1904, he was for some years a Registrar. The Football Club highly valued his services both as Secretary and player. He enlisted in November 1915 in the Queen's Westminster Rifles and went to France in July 1916. Two months later he was in Dublin, a victim of shell shock. Will went to France again in 1917, and with the 13th Gloucesters fought near Ypres and Passchendaele. For a long time he was missing and it transpired that he was killed by a shell near St. Quentin. The body that held his really lovable personality —one recalls his thoughtful expression and attractive smile—lies buried in the Churchyard of Templeux la Fosse. His war experiences deepened his experience of God, and in a letter dated less than a month before his death he wrote of the Church, “I am often near in thought and I feel that some of the lessons I learnt are helping me now."

Reproduced from Homage: A Record of Our Heroes (a commemorative booklet produced by Seven Kings United Methodist Church c.1920)