4113 GNR. W. PEARSON R.F.A.

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(My thanks to Cathal Roche, William’s great-nephew, for telling me about him and for providing the newspaper report.)

 

William Pearson was born in Carlow, Ireland.  According to military records he was born on 15 February 1890.  Some other civil records give his year of birth as 1888 or 1889.  By 1910, William had moved to Dublin where he was working as a ship steward possibly on the ferries to Liverpool.  Working as a stewardess was Mary Jane McCarthy (b. 1890 in Dublin) and the couple were married in 1910.  They lived at 68 Meath Street, Dublin.  In 1915, William was working as a waiter at Dickinson’s Canteen in Dublin.

 

The couple had two children: Christopher Matthew (b. 1912) and Caroline (b. 1913), but their married life was not without its problems.  In 1912, William was arrested and found guilty of drunkenness and sentenced to 4 days in Mountjoy Prison and fined 5/-, and more seriously, the following year, he was found guilty of assaulting his wife and sentenced to 2 months in prison.

 

We can’t know the reasons behind William’s decision to join the Army, but we do know that he enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery in May 1915 in Liverpool.  He was among a group of about 130 men who enlisted at the same time and who would eventually be assigned to “D” Battery of 286 Brigade.

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Unfortunately, William never completed training, due to a fatal accident which occurred on 18 October 1916.  The details can be read in the newspaper report.  William must have suffered terribly.  He was 26 years old.

 

Rank:  Gunner

Service No:  4113

Date of Death:  18/10/1916

Age:  26

Regiment/Service:  Royal Field Artillery, "D" Bty. 286th Bde.

Grave Reference: PF. 38

Cemetery:  Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin

 

The W. Traynor, who witnessed the accident, was 681519 Drv William Kilduff Traynor.  Born in Liverpool in 1892, William survived the War and was given a medical discharge in January 1919.  He returned to Liverpool and lived with his parents at least until 1923.  He later emigrated to the United States and in 1942 he was registered as living in Bergen, New Jersey, employed in building maintenance.  He died in New Jersey in 1970.

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