b. 10/06/1868 Bishop Waltham, Hampshire. d. 22/12/1945 Ashurst, Hampshire.
DATE OF EM ACTION: 19/06/1910 Lyndhurst Road Station, Ashurst, Hampshire.
William was the youngest of seven children born to Thomas and Sarah Piercey (nee Child). He was a twin with Charles and was born on 10th June 1868 in Bishop Waltham, Hampshire. Sadly, his father died the same year of his birth, and he was raised by his mother. In 1889, he married Alice Earwalker in South Stoneham, Hampshire, and they had a daughter, Elsie. William was then employed as a railway porter, and it was in this capacity that he was awarded the Edward Medal for his rescue of a small child at Lyndhurst Road Station. He was presented with his medal by King George V at Marlborough House on 12th October 1910. William then became a railway signalman and retired in the 1930s. His retirement was spent in Ashurst, Hampshire, where he died at his home, Holmlea in Ash Road, on 22nd December 1945, aged 77.
EM CITATION:
On the evening of Sunday, June 19th, as an express train from Bournemouth to Waterloo was entering Lyndhurst Road Station, a little boy, about four years old, fell from the up platform on to the line, a few yards in front of the approaching train. William Piercey, a porter, who was on duty on the platform, hearing the child scream, and seeing him lying on the line, at once sprang on to the permanent way, seized him, and jumped with him in his arms into the six-foot way. Both the little boy and his rescuer were uninjured, though they had a narrow escape from death.
BURIAL LOCATION: UNKNOWN.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: UNKNOWN.
