W. F. Hine
Private, London Regiment, 24th Battalion
Service no. 5696 or Y22567
This is a tentative identification, as no W. F. Hine with links to Stockwell or South London is in the CWGC database.
W. F. Hine may have been the brother of Alfred Hine. There is a pension record in the National Archives for a William Hine of 4 Park Place, Hercules Road, Lambeth, a “liftman” who was aged 22 and 10 months in 1916, when he attested. He was 5 feet 6½ inches tall, with a 37½-inch chest which he could expand by 2½ inches. He had a tattoo of a “ballet girl” on his right forearm.
Hine’s next of kin was his sister Mrs. Reading of 23 Fairford Grove, Lower Kennington. One wonders why he did not give his parents, at Union Road, as next of kin.
Hine was at home until 2 August 1916 when he was sent with the British Expeditionary Force to France. There, on 18 September 1916, he sustained a gunshot wound to his right hand. This proved to be a “Blighty” wound, ie it necessitated immediate repatriation. After this he was awarded a weekly pension of 22s.
It has not been possible to ascertain when William Hine died. However, the records include a William Hine, who died aged approximately 25 in Fulham in 1920.
