William Sidney Lawrence

Story:
William Sidney Lawrence was born in 1878 in Fontmell Magna, Dorset, and was baptised there on 14th April 1878. He was the son of Thomas Lawrence, a Farm Labourer, and Elizabeth Sarah Ann Lawrence (née Dibben). At the time of the 1911 Census he was single, working as an estate labourer and living at 48 Fontmell Magna. He enlisted on 19th September 1895, as a Private in the Dorsetshire Regiment (Service No. 4702) and was discharged to the reserves on 18th September 1907. At the outbreak of war he re-enlisted in Blandford and joined the 1st Battalion of the Dorsetshire Regiment (Service No. No 3/7690). He served in France & Flanders and was awarded the Victory, British War and 1914 Star medals. He died on 2nd May 1915 and his name appears on the Menin Gate Memorial at Ypres, Flanders (Panel 37). He is remembered on the Fontmell Magna War Memorial, Shaftesbury.

Printed Sources:
"Fontmell Magna and the First World War", compiled by Chris Bellers, Fontmell Magna Village Archive Society, 2014.