Royal Army Service Corps, Home Service
William was born in 1884 in Far Cotton, Northampton, the son of Henry Wadhams, a county police constable, and his wife Mary Elizabeth. The family moved house a number of times because of Henry’s work and when he retired on a police pension they were living in Station Road, Spratton (now The Stone House, Brixworth Road). Of the nine children, five were still living at home in 1911 - William, John, Charles, Thomas and Agnes. William worked as a farm labourer.
Four of the brothers served in the First World War and although William and Charles returned home safely, sadly John and Thomas were killed in action. The three sisters, Annie, Edith and Agnes, all worked for the Red Cross in military hospitals.
William was 30 when war was declared and he served at home in the Royal Army Service Corps. After the war he returned to Northamptonshire and died in Spratton on 9 February 1950 aged 56, giving two of his sisters as his next-of-kin.
