William Theakstone Berridge was born at Bishop Burton on 25/11/1888. William’s mother, Alice, died in 1898 and his father then married Mary Maw of Aike.
William attended the school in Bishop Burton. William married Ellen Scott at North Dalton on 1st January 1913. Ellen, known as Nelly, was the only child of John and Alice Scott, a journeyman blacksmith. They had obe child, William Albert Berridge, was born on 5th December 1915. The family home was 3 Egypt St, Marfeet, Hull, and William worked as a Railway Shunter at East Hull docks.
William enlisted in Hull on 25th May 1915, aged 26 years and 6 months, joining the 17th Northumberland Fusilers (Railway Pals). He measured 5 feet 7 inches in height and had a chest girth of 42 inches. His general fitness was described as good and he had 6/6 vision in both eyes. The record shows he was distinctively marked by slight eczema on both wrists. He was also vaccinated during infancy and had three marks on his left arm, so presumably was right-handed. William was discharged from the army with effect from 27th September 1917. He was able to count a service record of 2 years and 130 days. This determined his weekly pension was 27 shillings and 6 pence (£1.37½ in today’s money). There was also an addition allowance of 5 shillings (£0.25), payable as a child’s allowance. The weekly pension would now be worth £66.45 and the child’s addition is £12.13 allowing
for inflation since then. The basic retirement pension for a couple today is £139 per week. It is unlikely that William saw very much of his son as most of his time was spent on military service in France or in hospital. A week in August 1916 when he left the
convalescent home in Alnwick looks as if it was probably the only time they would have spent together before he returned to England with the wound that incapacitated him. William’s son served in the navy during World War 2
There is a record of the death of a William T Berridge aged 29 in the first quarter of 1918 in Lambeth, London. This suggests that he probably never left the King George Hospital.
The hospital was based in Cornwall House just opposite Waterloo Station.
In 1923, Ellen Berridge (also known as Nelly), William’s widow, married his younger brother, Henry (known as Harry). Ellen died in 1968 and Henry in 1978. Both are buried in All Saints Church, Bishop Burton.
