William Thomas Cole

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Grave/Memorial:  		Cole, William T

1871, Bitton, Gloucestershire

Stephen and Hannah (née Neale)

5th Battalion, Grenadier Guards

3404

Private (Guardsman)

11 December 1916, Brookwood, Surrey, age 45

Brookwood Cemetery, Surrey 		 
Biography:
William Thomas Cole was born in 1871, in Bitton, Gloucestershire, the son of Stephen Richard, a stoker, and Hannah (née Neale).
He was the youngest of four children and his mother died when he was eight (his father went on to have a further nine children
with his second and third wives).

William enlisted with the Army, joining the Grenadier Guards, in Mansfield (his regimental number suggests he joined in early
January 1892). In 1901, he was at Victoria Barracks, Windsor.

In 1904, William married Fanny Burling of Cambridgeshire and they had five children together. In 1905, William was at
Marlborough Lines, Aldershot serving with the 3rd Battalion; in 1911, still at Aldershot, he was serving with the 2nd Battalion.

In 1916, William and his family were living in Brookwood.

William was then serving (presumably at Pirbright Camp) with the 5th (Reserve) Battalion.

William Thomas Cole died of heart failure on 11 December 1916, age 45. He is buried in a
CWGC grave, within plot 119, in Brookwood Cemetery.