SPRATTON LOCAL HISTORY SOCIETY

William Alsin was born in Spratton in July 1879, the son of William Wykes from a very long-established village family, and his wife Martha Elizabeth (née Martin).  After his mother’s death, his father married a much younger woman, Bessie Martha Emery, also known as Betsy, and they had a child, Ernest John Roberts Wykes, in 1900.  Then, after his father’s death, Bessie and Ernest moved to live with William Alsin, who worked as a boot and shoe maker.  He and his step-mother, Bessie, lived as “man and wife” and had eight children, Alfred, Bert, Theresa, Sarah, William Alsin, David, Phyllis and Marion.  The family lived in the High Street, Spratton.

Alsin volunteered under Lord Derby’s Scheme on 25 November 1915 and was called up on 16 June 1916 aged 36.  He was on Home Service with the Bedfordshire Regiment Reserve from then until 5 January 1917 when he was posted to France.

He dislocated his knee badly on 15 February 1917 and was repatriated on 26 February.  William had a history of football injuries to his knee as a young man and it continued to be swollen and painful.  He was discharged as unfit on 28 May 1917 and issued with a Silver War Badge to wear at home to show that he had been wounded in the war. He also received the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

In his later years he lived in Boughton and he died on 1st April 1961.