W.C. Ray
Private, East Surrey Regiment, 8th Bn.
Service no. 39290.
Killed in action on 23 October 1918, aged 23.
Remembered at Forest Communal Cemetery, Nord, France
In 1911 William Charles Ray lived with his parents, William, a 37-year-old carman, and 32-year-old Louisa Esther (née Rainbow), and four siblings at 10 Broomgrove Road, Stockwell Green, where they occupied three rooms. Louisa’s mother Caroline Rainbow lived in the other half of the house with a son, adopted daughter and a lodger.
William was almost 21 and working as an engine driver when he was called up 30 May 1918. He stood 5ft 5in, with brown hair and hazel eyes. His chest measured 33in. His physical development was judged to be ‘Good’.
Ray had two misdemeanours on his Service record: failure to wash before breakfast, for which he was confined to barracks for three days, and overstaying his pass when on active service, for which six days’ pay was withheld.
Ray married Annie Florence Judd in 1917. She lived at 44 Tregenna Street, Brixton Hill with their two daughters, Annie Edith, born in 1916, and Florence Violet, born posthumously in May 1919. She received his identity disc and a weekly widows’ pension of 20s and 6d.
