Victor Wheldon Williams was born in Dulwich, London on Tuesday, 30th April 1895 the only child of William Wheldon-Williams and Fanny Elliott (nee Markham). When Victor was born his parents were living at 14 Maxted Road East Dulwich but shortly afterwards they moved to Boxmoor near Hemel Hempstead and took up residence in a house called “Claremont” on St. John’s Road.

The family was well off and Victor’s father William is recorded on the 1901 Census as “Living on own means” suggesting he had inherited wealth. He had been a Medical Student when he met and married Victor’s mother Fanny in 1894, but it appears that he did not complete his studies or qualify to practice medicine.

Sadly, Victor’s mother Fanny suffered from her husband’s violent and abusive behaviour leading her to petition for divorce in October 1907 citing a catalogue of violent behaviour on her husband’s part which included beatings and culminated in a threat to kill her. Fanny had already moved out of the family home and gone back to her parents in Bury St. Edmunds, whilst Victor had been sent away to board at Berkhamsted School in 1904 so may have been unaware of the traumas at “Claremont”. He started at Berkhamsted just as the author Graham Greene, whose father was Headmaster, was born at the school.

Victor remained at Berkhamsted after his parents parted although it seems he still came home to Boxmoor to stay with his father during and immediately after he left school. Victor was preparing to go up to Oxford University after leaving Berkhamsted, but on the outbreak of war he immediately enlisted and applied for a commission in the Duke of Cambridge’s Own Middlesex Regiment, an application signed by his mother Fanny as he was still under twenty-one and supported by his old Headmaster C. H. Greene who vouched for his character.

He was duly Gazetted 2nd Lieutenant on the 23rd November 1914 and posted to his unit to train on the South Downs, overwintering in Hove, Sussex before moving to Shoreham and finally Pirbright in June 1915 where training was completed. The Battalion sailed for France on the 2nd September 1915 and Victor followed on the 23rd October, shortly after the unit had suffered heavy losses at Loos.

At the beginning of April the following year, The Battalion was in the trenches at Messines and despite “nothing unusual” occurring, Victor was the victim of a gunshot wound to the chest on the 4th April. He was immediately taken down the line and evacuated to 14 General Hospital for treatment and recovery. Whilst in hospital he was Gazetted Temporary Lieutenant, and he was back with his unit with his new rank eleven days after being wounded.

His return was brief as at the end of the month he was again wounded in action, this time suffering from gas poisoning. He was one of over seventy officers and other ranks affected by the German gas attack and Victor found himself back in 14 General Hospital for treatment. It was not very serious, and he was back with the Battalion by the end of May.

At the start of July, Victor was sent for training at the 2nd Army Grenade School in Terdeghem, Northern France and it was there that he received wounds as a result of an accident during instruction. Despite being admitted to 12 Casualty Clearing Station his wounds proved fatal and Victor died on Thursday 6th July 1916.

A brief obituary was published in the Hemel Gazette just over three weeks later. (see extract) He was commemorated on the War Memorial at Berkhamsted School and in his local church, St. John the Evangelist in Boxmoor.

Victor is Remembered with Honour at the Hazebrouck Communal Cemetery, Nord, France, where he is interred in Grave III.G.29. The inscription on his headstone, requested by his mother Fanny, reads: “OH FOR THE TOUCH OF A VANISH'D HAND & THE SOUND OF A VOICE THAT IS STILL'D”.

These are lines taken for the poem ‘Break Break Break’ by Alfred Lord Tennyson and profoundly describe the intense grief felt for the loss of a loved one.

He was 21 years old when he died.

Victor was entitled to the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Allied Victory Medal.