William Hall was the third son of William and Eliza Ann who were living at 66 Queen Street at the time of his birth in early 1893. He was baptised at St Paul’s Church in Hemel Hempstead on 21st July in the same year. He came from a large family and grew up with six brothers and four sisters. By the time of the census in 1911 the Hall family were living at 141 Lower Marlowes in Hemel Hempstead and the return records William’s parents had had a total of twelve children two of whom had died young. His older brother Alfred was also killed in the Great War in 1918 and his biography appears on this site.

William attended Queen Street school in Hemel Hempstead and in both 1900 and 1901, he was the recipient of a cash prize for his good attendance. He was awarded 1s 6d on each occasion for 432 and 401 ‘full attendances’ respectively. National Schools had roll calls twice each day, one in the morning and again in the afternoon and each one was counted as an ‘attendance’, so William had an almost perfect record during these two school years. This at a time when children were often away from school for a variety of reasons, such as; harvesting, truancy and ‘blackberrying’!

William and three of his sisters; Rebecca, Ethel and Rose were working as Brush Factory Hands in 1911 at Kent Brushes in Apsley, and both William and his sister Rose were ‘Shapers’. Shaping was part of the finishing process in brush manufacturing which included sanding, staining and polishing and was often considered a specialist job in the industry.

GB Kent & Sons was established in 1777, by William Kent in the reign of George lll manufacturing a range of brushes of the very best workmanship and moving to Apsley in 1901. Kent workers made hundreds of thousands of brushes for the War Office during the Great War, including a soldier’s kit featuring; hair, tooth, shaving, cloth, shoe blacking, shoe polishing and button brushes. Large quantities of horse brushes were also supplied for the army.

During the four-year conflict, many of Kent’s employees joined the colours, of which seventeen lost their lives. Their names are recorded on a special memorial plaque at the current London Road factory in Apsley.

William was a member of the Hertfordshire Territorial Force and he and his older brother Alfred joined the Force on 30th May 1913. Their attesting officer was 2nd Lieutenant Harcourt Snowden who was killed only a month before William.

The Territorial Force was camped at Ashridge when war broke out, and William was amongst the first volunteers for foreign service from Hemel Hempstead. He embarked for France with 1/1st Battalion Hertfordshire Regiment as it joined the British Expeditionary Force in France on the 6th November 1914 serving in the trenches during the closing stages of the First Ypres. Later that month the battalion joined the 4th (Guards) Brigade of the 2nd Division.

In January 1915 Lieutenant Colonel Croft took command and the following month the Battalion supported the 1st Irish and 3rd Coldstream Guards in their seizure of the Brickstacks position at Cuinchy, 5 miles east of Béthune. The Battalion war diaries recorded William’s death on 7th February 1915.

"7-2-15. Two Companies under Captain Jones [Edgar Montague JONES] reported to O.C. 3rd Battalion Coldstream Guards at 6.30am at CUINCHY. No.2 Coy sent 2 platoons to Fire Trench. 1 man killed in No.1 Company in support [Comment; Lance Corporal 86 Edward David NEWALL killed and Private 2181 William HALL died of wounds later that day]. Lieut. J. PAWLE dangerously wounded."

William’s death was announced in the Hemel Gazette on 20th February 1915.

His father subsequently received a touching letter from Captain Lovel F. Smeathman which attested to William’s bravery and popularity. At the time he was killed William’s parents were living at 2, Frogmore Crescent, Apsley End. The Gazette published the letter in its edition on 27th February 1915.

William is Remembered with Honour at Chocques Military Cemetery, Pas-de-Calais, France and is interred in plot I.A.19.

William is also commemorated on a War Memorial Plaque at Kent Brushes in Apsley.

William was 21 years old when he died. 

He was eligible for the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Allied Victory Medal.