Story:
William Thomas Chaldecott was born in 1891 in East Orchard, Shaftesbury, Dorset. He was the son of Arthur Edmund Chaldecott, a Journeyman Baker, and Selina Hannah Chaldecott (nee Parham). His siblings included Joseph Arthur Chaldecott born in 1894, who also died in the war. At the time of the 1911 Census William was single, working as a Dairyman and living at Sixpenny Handley, Dorset. He enlisted in Gillingham, Dorset, as a Private in the 1st Battalion of the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (Service No. 23223) and served in France and Flanders from 12 Jul 1915. Possibly due to wounds he was transferred to the Royal Defence Corps on 1 Dec 1917 and served in Ireland (New Service No. 72314). He was awarded the Victory and British War Medals as well as the 1915 Star. He died at sea on 10th October 1918 when as a military passenger on board the Royal Mail Steamer Leinster was torpedoed in the Irish Sea by a German submarine and his body was not recovered. His name is listed on the Hollybrook Memorial, Shirley, Southampton with those of other military personnel who were on the Leinster when it went down. He is also remembered on the Sixpenny Handley War Memorial. His father died in 1918. His mother was awarded a dependent's pension covering both of her sons who perished.