William Thomas Chaldecott

Story:
William Thomas Chaldecott was born in 1891 in East Orchard, 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 he 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 on 1st December 1917 transferred to the Royal Defence Corps (New Service No. 72314). He was awarded the Victory, British War and 1915 Star medals. He died at sea on 10th October 1918 when the Royal Mail Steamer Leinster was torpedoed in the Irish Sea by a German submarine. 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.