William Henry Lloyd – Machine Gun Corps, 115th Company

Private William Henry Lloyd – Machine Gun Corps, 115^th Company

Family Background

William Henry Lloyd 

William Henry Lloyd was born in 1884 in Swansea, the eldest son of John Henry Lloyd and Mary Ann Lloyd.

1891 Census

At the time of the 1891 Census, the Lloyd family were residing at Penygraig, Swansea.
John Henry (36) was employed as a Police Constable, and his wife Mary Ann (34) kept the household. Their only child at this time was William Henry (7).

1901 Census

By the 1901 Census, the family had moved to 9 Windsor Street, Swansea.
John Henry (46) continued working as a Police Constable, while Mary Ann (41) was at home. Their son William Henry (16) was employed as a House Painter’s Apprentice.
Also present were their niece Emily Millicent Lloyd (4) and a boarder, Alfred Skinner (27), who was also a Police Constable.

1911 Census

By the 1911 Census, the family were residing at 9 Queens Road, Mumbles.
John Henry (56) was recorded as a Police Pensioner, and Mary Ann (52) remained at home. Their niece Emily Millicent (15) was still present.
An unusual entry on the census lists William Henry (27)—now a House Painter—as a “nephew” rather than a son, almost certainly due to a clerical or recording error.

Marriage

William Henry Lloyd and Edith Mary Hellier
marriage certificate
All Saints' Church, Oystermouth

In 1911, William married Edith Mary Hellier at All Saints Church, Oystermouth.

Military Service and Death

William enlisted in 1916 and served as a Private in the Machine Gun Corps, 115^th Company, one of the specialist machine-gun units formed to provide concentrated firepower on the Western Front. Operating 12 Vickers machine guns and comprising around 180–200 men, the company delivered sustained suppressive fire, supported infantry attacks, and defended front-line positions from exposed and dangerous gun emplacements. Machine-gun crews were particularly vulnerable to enemy artillery, trench-mortar fire, and sniping, and the MGC later earned the grim reputation of being “The Suicide Club” due to its high casualty rates.

Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects

South Wales Daily Post

According to the Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects, Private William Henry Lloyd died of wounds on the 2^nd September 1917, and the South Wales Daily Post reported news of his death in its edition of 8^th September 1917, noting that he had passed away at the Canadian Hospital, Étaples. The Canadian Hospital formed part of the vast Étaples medical complex—the largest British military hospital centre in France—staffed by Canadian surgeons, nurses, and medical personnel. It specialised in treating severe shrapnel wounds, compound fractures, chest and abdominal injuries, and gas casualties. Despite advanced care, many soldiers succumbed to the severity of their wounds or later complications, as happened in William’s case.

William Henry Lloyd
Étaples Military Cemetery, France
credit - findagrave

He is buried at Étaples Military Cemetery, France, the principal burial ground for casualties treated in the Étaples hospitals.