W. Keys
Service no. 2009
Lance Serjeant, Seaforth Highlanders, 4th Battalion
Enlisted in London
Killed in action age 34 on 9 May 1915
CWGC: “Son of William Keys, of 18, Mandalay Road, Clapham, London, and the late Nancy Kelly Keys.”
Remembered at Le Touret Memorial, France
Information from the 1911 censusIn 1911 William Keys was 29 and working as an assistant schoolmaster at a London County Council school. He lived at home with his parents and siblings at 5 Grantham Road, Stockwell, where the family occupied 7 rooms. His father, William Keys, 59, described himself as a miller at a grain drying works. He was born at Glenavy in County Antrim, in Ireland. His mother, Agnes Keys (who may also have been known as Nancy) was 55 and came from Ballynahinch in County Down. They had had 9 children, of whom 8 survived in 1911 and 7 lived at Grantham Road:
Sarah Keys, 31, a telephone supervisor for the National Telephone Company, born at Riverstown Killucan, County Westmeath
William Keys, 29, assistant schoolmaster, born at Riverstown Killucan, County Westmeath
Emily Ann Keys, 27, a clerk at the Post Office, born at Riverstown Killucan, County Westmeath
Agnes Dorothea Keys, 25, no occupation given, born in Leixlip, County Kildare
David Keys, 22, a clerk at a glass merchants, born in Lambeth
Francis Herbert Keys, 20, a student, born in Lambeth
Edith Mary Keys, 18, a “civil service student”, born in Lambeth
