William George Carrington was born in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire at the beginning of July 1890 and baptised on Monday, 14th of the same month, at St Paul’s Church on Queen Street in Hemel Hempstead. His mother was Mary Ann Carrington and when William was three-years-old she married William Leonard Ansell. His mother and new step-father then had seven children together who were: Violet Daisy, Edith, Beatrice May, George, Percy, Edgar and the youngest Gertrude Lavinia. Edgar died in 1906 aged only eighteen months. When he was born, William lived with his maternal Grandparent’s at 3 Gosnold’s Yard, one of many small yards off the High Street in the Old Town, in a house now long gone. He grew up here and on Queen Street where his mother moved to when she married his step-father William Ansell. Indeed, William’s mother lived in the same house 8 Queen Street until her death in 1930.

When William left school, he first went to work for the British Paper Company in Frogmore Mill in Apsley. This is still producing paper products today and in fact, is the oldest working paper mill in the world. In September 1905, William, aged fifteen, attempted to enlist with the 4th Bedfordshire Militia Regiment giving his age as “17 years and 3 months”. His efforts failed however, because he was rated “totally unfit” for service due to a “Rupture” on his left side and he was rejected. Undeterred, he returned exactly one year later and made a second attempt. This time however, he called himself by his step-father’s surname and attested as William Ansell. Apart from this obvious difference, he also effected some other subtle changes to his personal information. He had previously stated that he was a ‘Congregationalist’ and now he was ‘Church of England’ and he also claimed never to have been rejected for military service in the past. He gave his age once again as “17 years and 3 months”, ignoring the fact that he was still only sixteen.

His subterfuge succeeded and he was passed fit and signed up for six years with ‘D’ Company 4th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment. Whether he was subsequently found out is not known, but only four months later on the 14th January 1907, he was discharged from the army on payment of £1 0s 0d.

In 1907 he left Frogmore Mill and moved a short distance to Apsley Mills, to work for John Dickinson & Co. Limited as a ‘General Labourer’. His desire for a military career, however, was satisfied two years later when he enlisted with the 2nd Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment and became a professional soldier. On completion of his basic training, William went to Bermuda to join his Battalion and remained there until 1912 when the unit moved to South Africa. The 2nd Battalion were at Roberts Heights near Pretoria in South Africa on the outbreak of war and it was immediately recalled to England, landing at Southampton on the 19th September 1914 and forming part of the 'Immortal' 7th Division.

Having refitted for European warfare, the division left Southampton at on the 5th October 1914, on board the S.S. Winifredian and after a brief stop at Dover for supplies, landed in Zeebrugge at 6.30 a.m. on the 7th October. The division moved almost forty miles south to meet the rest of the British Expeditionary Force and on the 18th October, it met the German Army for the first time in a brief skirmish. For William, this was the first action in what proved to be three long, hard years of fighting. He fought in and survived the First Battle of Ypres in 1914; in 1915 he came through the Battles of Neuve Chapelle, Festubert, the actions at Givenchy and the Battle of Loos in September. The following year saw him fight in the Somme Offensive; on the opening day at the Battle of Albert; then the Battles of Delville Wood in July and Le Transloy in October.

In 1917 he was involved in the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line in March, the Battle of Arras, specifically the First Battle of the Scarpe in April before being granted some well-earned home leave in July. He came back to visit family and friends in Hemel Hempstead and left to return to the Front on the 28th July. By this time the 2nd Battalion was in Belgium and in William's absence had fought in the Battle of Pilckem Ridge, a phase of the Third Battle of Ypres, where it had lost seventy-five men. On William’s return, the Battalion was spared direct assaults for the rest of the year, being confined to aggressive patrolling and raiding instead. This was still dangerous work although mercifully, less devastating in terms of casualties that direct attacks.

By November the Battalion was in the Hollebeke sector, south of Ypres in support areas and the War Diary recorded what took place on the 11th as follows: “11 Nov 1917 Battalion in SUPPORT AREA. The Battalion moved at dusk and took up the following dispositions: - "D" Coy. relieved "A" Coy. in ROSE WOOD. "A" Coy. relieved a Company of the 17th Bn.K.L.R. holding the Right Front Line Sub-Sector. "B" Coy. were relieved by a Company of 10th Bn.L.N.Lancs, 37th Division and then relieved a Company of the 17th Bn.K.L.R. in RAVINE. "C" Company moved their Headquarters and 2 Platoons to DENY'S WOOD H.Q. "B" Company relieved the Liaison Post in GREEN WOOD and No.1.POST with 2 Lewis Guns. Casualties: - 1 O.R. killed. 2 O.R. died of wounds 8 O.R. wounded”. What the account does not describe is that a shell landed in the dug-out occupied by William at Rose Wood, resulting in his instantaneous death.

William died on Sunday, 11th November 1917 exactly one year before the Great War ended.

His death was reported in the Hemel Gazette just over a month later along with two letters which had been received by his mother Mary Ann, one from the Battalion Chaplain and one from his platoon Officer. Both expressed sympathy and described the cause of William’s demise. The Chaplain referred to Mary Ann’s brother in his letter and this was Dan Freeman, William’s uncle who was only six years older and who served with William in the 2nd Bedfordshires as a professional soldier. He survived the war, married, had two children and died aged seventy-one in Watford.

William's name is recorded twice on the Hemel Hempstead War Memorial. He is listed first as William Ansell and then under his birth name, William George Carrington. This oversight is possibly explained by the fact that different members of his family proposed his inclusion without reference to each other until it was too late.

He was commemorated on the War Memorial Plaque in St. Paul's Church which sadly was lost when the church was demolished in 1961. The plaque was replaced by a Memorial Scroll recording the men who fell.

William is Remembered with Honour in Kemmel Chateau Military Cemetery, West Vlaanderen, Belgium where he is interred in Grave X. 61.

He was 27 years old when he died.

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