William George Phillips

Story:
William George Phillips was born in 1888 in Fulham, London. He was the son of Richard Phillips, a Brewer's Servant, and Helen Phillips (née Williams). His mother died in 1897 and his father in 1903. In the 1911 Census he is shown living with his cousin, William Williams, a groom, whose wife was the publican of the Roe Buck Inn, Sixpenny Handley, Dorset. He is described as an Army Reservist but by 1914 he had obtained employment as a Postman. On 17th June 1914 he married Helen Annie Day at Sixpenny Handley and there were no children of the marriage. He enlisted in Blandford, Dorset, as a Private and joined the 1st Battalion of the Duke of Edinburgh's (Wiltshire) Regiment (Service No. 6740) During the war he served in France & Flanders and was awarded the Victory, British War and 1914 Star medals (Clasp). He died of wounds on 24th Oct 1914 in the Bethune No.6 Clearing Hospital and was buried at Bethune Town Cemetery, Arras, Pas de Calais, France (grave id. I.B.20). He is remembered on the Sixpenny Handley War Memorial. His widow Helen remarried in 1920, to William S. Clarke.