Category: Military
Rank: Sergeant
Regiment or Ship: 6th Bn East Kent Regiment
Service Number(s): 304
Occupation: School teacher at St. Barnabas’ School, Bexhill
Date of Birth: 1888
Place of Birth: Bexhill
Date of Death: 22.06.1915
Place of Death: Belgium (according to newspaper report)
Place of Burial / Memorials:
Erquinghem-Lys Churchyard Extension (Grave/Memorial Reference: I. D. 2.).
Address: 50, Windsor Road (From 1901 Census), Bexhill
Photos and newspaper articles
Click on any image to see a larger version
Family Information
Parents:
George William Dennett born 1855, in Sedlescombe, Sussex and Alice Dear born 1865, in Woolston, Hampshire. They were married in 1885, in South Stoneham, Hampshire.
Siblings:
Ethel Laura Dennett, born 1887, Bexhill, Sussex
Bernard George Dennett, born 1891, Bexhill, Sussex
Agnes Alice Dennett, born 1892, Bexhill, Sussex
George Archibald Dennett, born 1894, Bexhill, Sussex W0258 DENNETT George Archibald
Harold Stoneage Dennett, born 1898, Bexhill, Sussex W0259 DENNETT Harold Stonegate
William did not marry.
First World War Experience
Before the war, William served in the Oxford Bucks Light Infantry (Territorial) for 2 years.
He was a volunteer, enlisting on 27th August 1914, at Canterbury, Kent.
The few records that have survived, tell us very little about his service, but, on his Military History sheet, it says that he left England for France on 31st May 1915 and remained there until his death on 22nd June, the same year – less than a month after he arrived at the front.
Additional Information
His Army records that have survived say that he was seriously injured by a ‘bomb’ on 25th June and died of his wounds the next day. No details are given as to how this happened; the only statement being “Killed (accidentally)”
The ‘bomb’ was most probably a type of hand weapon that had to be lit with a match, or some other device, before being thrown at the enemy. This was a very unsafe weapon as many things could go wrong. A new safer design, the ‘Mills’ bomb, which used a ring-pull to set off the explosive charge, was invented and patented in June 1915 by William Mills from Sunderland and later that same year the Army adopted this but, it seems, too late for William Dennett.
Other addresses:
Culham (Teacher) Training College, Abingdon (Student) – 1911 Census
30, Ormonde Road, Hythe, Kent – Probate records
On his Service record, William stated that he had been living in Hythe, in Kent for more than three years.