On The Roll of Honour
William was born in 1879 in Colchester to George and Julia Nicholls.
In the 1881 census, William was aged 2 and living at 4 Broomfield Road, Chelmsford with his brother George, aged 5 and his mother, Julia, aged 26 and father, George, aged 31 a Railway Porter.
In the 1891 census, William now aged 11 was living with his father George, aged 41, now a Great Eastern Signalman, his mother Julia, aged 36 and his brother George, aged 14, a Great Eastern Railway Clerk at 18 Hawk End, Elmswell (close to the railway station).
In the 1901 census, William, now 22, was a Boarder with Mrs Wilson at East Ardsley, Yorkshire and he was now a Railway Porter. In the same year, he married Emma Sparrow who was working as a cook at the Manor House in Elmswell.
In the 1911 census, William, aged 31, a Domestic Gardner, was living in Long Thurlow with his wife Emma, aged 30 and their 4 children: George, aged 8, Hector, aged 6, Dorothy, aged 4 and Gladys, aged 2. George was born in Colchester, Hector in Elmswell (where Emma was born) and Dorothy and Gladys were born in Badwell Ash.
Military and War: Nothing is known about William’s Army career. There’s a possibility that he could have been in the Kings Royal Rifles Regimental No. R21972 as there’s a record in The Forces War records for a William Edward Nicholls who joined the service in December 1915 and who was wounded in August1917. This has yet to be cross referenced and confirmed.
Post War: William and Emma lived in “Ivydene”, West Bergholt, near. Colchester, Essex. Emma died on the 17th November 1945, aged 65, in West Bergholt, Essex. William died on the 14th September 1950 in the East Suffolk and Ipswich Hospital, aged 71. He left £1,826.16s1d (£61,500 today) in his will.
