William Daniel Ratcliffe, known as Dan, was born in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire in late 1893 the third son and sixth of eight children born to Thomas Ratcliffe and Anne Weedon. The children were, Charles Edward, Emily Jane, Thomas George, Esther May, Annie, William Dan, Albert Walter and Hilda Kate. William’s mother Anne died in 1901 aged forty. His oldest brother Charles was a professional soldier with the Royal Garrison Artillery and his sister Esther was a professional Pianist. Dan left school in 1907 and went to work as a "Farm Labourer" at Ward’s End Farm which was about half a mile from his home on the Marlowes in Hemel Hempstead. Ward’s End Farm stood behind the area where the Laureate Academy (Cavendish School) stands today and roughly adjacent to Gadebridge Road. William worked at the farm until war broke out.

He was amongst the earliest volunteers from Hemel Hempstead when he attested in August 1914 and enlisted with the Bedfordshire Regiment. He was posted to the 5th Battalion at Bury St Edmunds to undergo basic training until in January 1915 the 5th was designated the 1/5th Battalion and moved shortly afterwards to St Albans. He had completed his training by the end of 1915 and was sent overseas to join his unit in Egypt where he landed in January 1916 as the 1/5th Bedfords was being rebuilt after the devasting losses it suffered at Gallipoli some months previously. The 1/5th had been nicknamed “The Yellow Devils” during the fighting at Gallipoli when during the assault at Kiretch Tepe Sirt, a staff officer apparently observed that he could see the Battalion’s metal flashes glinting yellow in the sun as it doggedly advanced.

After his arrival, Dan spent the whole of 1916 with the Battalion guarding the Suez Canal before moving in March 1917 to join the rest of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force as the advance through Palestine began. Throughout 1917 and 1918, Dan fought in all major actions and came through unscathed, until in October 1918 he fell ill. He was transferred to No. 17 General Hospital at Abassia in Cairo, where he was diagnosed with pneumonia and immediately treated. The forces on all sides in the Middle East campaign lost many men in the fighting but of more significance was the level of sickness, particularly in the Allied armies, which resulted in more men lost to disease than enemy fire. Pneumonia, Enteric Fever, Malaria and Dysentery were utterly debilitating and, in many cases, fatal and this proved to be the case for Dan. Despite treatment for his condition, he succumbed to his illness in hospital.

He died on Wednesday, 30th October 1918 having served since almost the start of the conflict and only twelve days before the Armistice treaty ended the Great War.

Dan was commemorated on the War Memorial plaque in St Paul’s Church on Queen Street. Sadly, this plaque was lost during demolition of the church in the 1980’s but a commemorative scroll is on display in the new St Paul’s Church in Highfield to remember the men on the original memorial.

He is Remembered with Honour in the Alexandria (Hadra) War Memorial Cemetery, Egypt where he is interred in Grave E. 100.

He was 24 years old when he died.

Dan was entitled to the British War Medal and the Allied Victory Medal.