Capt Arthur de Bells Adam (MC)
1885 - 1916

CPL David Wallace Crawford
1887 - 1916

Lce-Corpl John Joseph Nickle
1894 - 1916

Pte 17911 Morton Neill
1897 - 1916

Lieut Edward Stanley Ashcroft
1883 - 1918

Pte 50028 William Thomas Valentine

Age: 21
From: Ruabon N.Wales
Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 17th Btn
D.O.W Sunday 28th April 1918
Commemorated at: Perth Cem Zillebeke
Panel Ref: IV.H.9

William Thomas Valentine was born in the December quarter of 1896 in Penycae (also written Pen-Y-cae), a village two miles northwest of Ruabon, near Wrexham. He was the son of William Valentine and his wife Margaret Elizabeth (née Hughes). His father was born in nearby Trefechan, and his mother in Penycae. They married in 1886.

His parents are found in Penycae in 1891, his father working as a coal miner, but by the next census have moved to Wrexham.

At the time of the 1901 census they are living at 28 Rhos Ddu Road, Wrexham. His father is 35, a coal miner/hewer, his mother is 32, Mary is 13, and William 4.

The 1911 Census shows the family living at 17 Empress Road, Wrexham. His father William aged 45, born 1866 occupation Bailiff. His wife Margaret Elizabeth is aged 43, born 1868. They have been married for twenty four years and have had three children of which one had died. Those listed at the property are Mary aged 23, born 1888 a confectionery manager and William Thomas, aged 14, is a confectionery assistant. The family all speak English and Welsh.

He enlisted in Wrexham and originally served as DM/2/196126, Royal Army Service Corps (Mechanical Transport). DM2 signifies Mechanical Transport Learners. Based on the amount of the War Gratuity, he enlisted in the summer of 1916, when he would have been 19 years old.

At some point he was transferred to the 20th Battalion of The King’s Liverpool Regiment, as Private 50028, and subsequently to the 17th Battalion K.L.R., possibly when the 20th Battalion was disbanded in France in February 1918.

William died of wounds on the 28^th April 1918, aged 21.

The CWGC L/Cpl Graves Registration form shows date of death 01st May 1918, later amended.

William was buried close to where he fell and his grave marked with a cross. After the war his body was removed and reinterred in Perth Cemetery (China Wall) Cemetery, Zillebeke.

The cemetery was begun by French troops in November 1914 (the French graves were removed after the Armistice) and adopted by the 2nd Scottish Rifles in June 1917. It was called Perth (as the predecessors of the 2nd Scottish Rifles were raised in Perth), China Wall (from the communication trench known as the Great Wall of China), or Halfway House Cemetery. The cemetery was used for front line burials until October 1917 and contained 130 graves. It was not used again until after the Armistice, when graves were brought in from the battlefields and smaller cemeteries around Ypres. There are now 1,426 WW1 Commonwealth burials in the cemetery.

He now rests at Perth (China Wall) Cemetery in Belgium where his headstone bears the epitaph:

“MI YMDRECHAIS YMDRECH DEG MI A ORPHENAIS FY NGHYRFA MI A GEDWAIS FY FYFYDD”

which translated means;

"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith”

His name was published among those who Died of Wounds in the Weekly Casualty List on 11th June 1918.

His Army effects and a War Gratuity of £7-10s went to his father William. The pension card in the name of his mother at 17 Empress Road, shows that she was awarded a pension of 9/6d a week from November 1918.

His father died in 1923 aged 57, and his mother in early 1939, aged 71.

William is commemorated in the Wrexham and East Denbighshire Book of Remembrance, now held in Wrexham Museum.

We currently have no further information on William Thomas Valentine, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.

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