William Sidney Lawrence

Story:
William Sidney Lawrence was born in 1878 in Fontmell Magna, Shaftesbury, 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 Church Street, Fontmell Magna. He enlisted on 19th September 1895, as a Private in the Dorsetshire Regiment (Service No. 4702) serving time in Gibraltar, Malta and India until 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 from 23 Oct 1914 and was awarded the Victory and British War Medals as well as the 1914/1915 Star. He was presumed killed in action following a poison gas attack on 2nd May 1915 his name ultimately appearing on the Menin Gate Memorial at Ypres, Flanders (Panel 37). He is also remembered on the Fontmell Magna War Memorial, Shaftesbury. As he had remained single his mother was in receipt of a dependent's pension.

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