William Mills

Private, The Leinster Regiment

(1887 - 1914)

When William Mills was born in October 1887 in Great Raveley, Huntingdonshire, his father, John, was 35 and his mother, Esther, was 36. He had three brothers and two sisters. His father died when he was 5, and his mother when he was 10. The oldest siblings took over family duties.

William Mills served in the 2nd Btn Prince of Wales Leinster Regiment. The regiment was in India in 1907 when he was 20 years old. He was with the regiment in India in the Census on April 2, 1911. Later that year 2nd Btn moved back to Cork, Ireland.

The regiment was part of 17th Brigade in 6th Division when they moved to Cambridge on 18 August 1914, & then on to Newmarket. On 12 Sept 1914, when he was 26, they went to War, landing at St Nazaire, Loire region, France.

He was killed in action in Coulommiers, Île-de-France, France, within a fortnight. (Date given as 26 Sept 1914 in two citations, but 20 Sept 1914 is Commonwealth War Graves Commission date.

He is buried in Coulommiers Communal Cemetery, East of Paris. [Private, 8255, "1st Btn Leinster Regmt". Grave B.11].

He was posthumously awarded the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal, and the Victory Medal.

He had family in Wadenhoe and must have regarded it as home, and so he is remembered on Wadenhoe's War Memorials.