William Harry Long

Story:
William Harry Long was born in 1888 in Cadeby, Leicestershire. He was the son of Henry Long, a Gamekeeper, and Amy Long (née Bailey). He married Mary Ann Graver on 18th December, 1907 at All Saints Church in Toftrees, Norfolk. At the time of the 1911 Census he was living at Cottage Row, Gaywood, Kings Lynn, Norfolk with his wife and family. He enlisted in Shaftesbury, Dorset, (having by then moved to Semley, Wiltshire, working as a Gamekeeper) and joined the 2nd Battalion of the Dorsetshire Regiment (Service No. 14861) and served in the Middle East Theatre. He was in action at a failed attempt to raid Turkish forces at Gully Beach, Gallipoli, Turkey, during August 1915 where he was taken as a prisoner of war. He remained incarcerated in Turkey until his death from pneumonia on the 10th December 1917. He had held the final rank of Sergeant. His name appears on the Nisbim Memorial 240 in the Baghdad (North Gate) War Cemetery in Iraq. The military death notice stated that he was a resident of Semley, Wiltshire. He was awarded the Victory and British War Medals and is also remembered on the Semley War Memorial in St. Leonard's churchyard and on the Semley Baptist Chapel plaque, now in St. Leonard's Church. His widow at the time was living at Gamekeepers Cottage, Semlwy, Wiltshire, where she awarded a pension for herself and three children of £1.16s.3d (£1.81p) per week. By 1921 his widow had moved back to Norfolk.