Rank: Company Sergeant Major 2817 Regiment: 2nd Bn., Honourable Artillery Company Died: 09/10/1917 Age: 26 Parish: Budleigh Salterton Local Memorials: Budleigh Salterton War Memorial, St Peter's Church War Memorial Other Memorial: Tyne Cot Memorial [Google] PDF Download: WORTH William Harry Thorn
Born in Broadclyst, Devon, William was the only son of Harry Walter Worth and his wife Lucy Anna (nee Thorne). He lived with his parents at The Feathers Hotel, High Street, Budleigh Salterton and qualified as a chemist after having attended the King’s School at Ottery St Mary and the Pharmaceutical College in Bloomsbury, London.
He was a member of the Budleigh Salterton Football Club and also played cricket. After volunteering for active service in August 1914, as war broke out, he joined the Honourable Artillery Company in November of that year. He was killed in action at Polygon Woods near Ypres by enemy shelling which also claimed all but one of his company in October 1917.
A newspaper obituary stated: “A comrade wrote ‘I have lost a good pal in him, as well as an excellent colleague as Company Serjeant Major’.”
William’s father died August 1918 and is buried in St Peter’s Cemetery, Budleigh Salterton. His mother died in 1945. He is remembered with honour on the Budleigh War Memorial and the brass plaque in St Peter’s Church, and at the Tyne Cot Memorial which honours 35,000 men whose graves are not known.
William Worth, Sergt, H.A.C. is listed under 'Serving at Home' in the Budleigh Salterton Roll of Honour.
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