William Donald Cheshire AM

b. 09/05/1886 Edmonton, Middlesex. d. 04/12/1966 Leamington Spa, Warwickshire.

DATE OF AM ACTION: 01/05/1916 Neuve Chapelle, France.

William was the eldest child and only son of William and Ada Maud Cheshire (nee Webster). He had a younger sister Hilda Webster Cheshire. His father was the manager of a manufacturers of gass meters, and William junior became his assistant just prior to World War I. He enlisted with the Lancashire Fusiliers and rose to the rank of Major by the end of the war. On his return to King’s Norton, Worcestershire he married Amy Gillmore. They went on to have a daughter, Margaret born in 1919.

 

AM CITATION:

The KING has been pleased to award the Albert Medal of the Second Class to Captain William Donald Cheshire, Lancashire Fusiliers, and to Serjeant Albert Ford, Royal Welsh Fusiliers, in recognition of their gallantry in saving life in France. At Neuve Chapelle, on the 1st May 1916, while practice with live grenades was being carried out, one of the class, in attempting to throw a grenade from which the safety pin had been withdrawn, struck his hand against the parados, so that the grenade was knocked out of his hand and fell into the trench, in which about twenty men were collected. Captain (then Lieutenant) Cheshire rushed forward, but was hampered and delayed by the men. who were trying to get clear. Nevertheless, he seized the grenade and threw it over the parapet. It exploded immediately after leaving his hand.

 

BURIAL LOCATION: UNKNOWN.

LOCATION OF MEDAL: PRIVATELY HELD.