The Queens Own Royal West Kent R

The Queens Own Royal West Kent Regiment

Second Lieutenant W S Hunter

IN LOVING MEMORY OF WILLIAM SAMUEL HUNTER
2nd LIEUT. 9th ROYAL WEST KENT REGT. CALLED TO HIGHER SERVICE FEB 1st 1916 AGED 21 YEARS
"FOR THE LAMB WHICH IS IN THE MIDST OF THE THRONG SHALL FEED THEM AND SHALL LEAD THEM UNTO LIVING FOUNTAINS OF WATERS AND GOD SHALL WIPE AWAY ALL TEARS FROM THEIR EYES"

Photographs & epitaph transcript provided by bomber brown

Second Lieutenant William Samuel HUNTER, 9th Battalion, Queens Own Royal West Kent Regiment, died at Swindon, 1st February 1916, age 21.

Born at Swindon, son of William Wallace Hunter and Mary Hunter, of "Bonnie Doon," Beach Road, Weston-super-Mare, Somerset.

1911 Census - Wallace Lodge, 73 Bath Road, Swindon, Wiltshire - William Wallace Hunter, head, age 47, married, house furnisher, employer, born Dalston, Middlesex; Mary Ann Hunter, wife, age 48, married 25 years, 3 children, all still alive, born Shingle End, Kent; Reginald Wallace Hunter, son, age 22, single, house furnisher, house furnisher, worker, born Swindon, Wiltshire; Ralph Hunter, son, age 21, single, motor engineer, motor agent, worker, born Swindon, Wiltshire; William Samuel Hunter, son, age 16, single, school, born Swindon, Wiltshire.

Buried at Swindon (Radnor Street) Cemetery, C. 2015., United Kingdom.

NOTE: Officers Died in the Great War gives first names as William Samuel; CWGC web site shows Wallace Samuel.

London Gazette 15th October 1915.

The Queen's Own (Royal West Kent Regiment).

The under mentioned to be temporary Second Lieutenants. Dated 9th October, 1915. William Samuel Hunter.

London Gazette 22nd March 1916

The Queen's Own (Royal West Kent Regiment). The relinquishment of his commission by temporary Second Lieutenant William S. Hunter, notified in the Gazette of 7th February, 1916, is cancelled.

London Gazette 28th October 1916.

The under mentioned temporary 2nd Lieutenants, from Reserve Battalions, to be temp. 2nd Lieutenants (attached), retaining their Army seniority: W S Hunter

From Strolling in Swindon, 28th October 2018 - https://www.facebook.com/strollinginswindon/posts/1974389549525401

W W Hunter shop corner of Edgware Road and Regent Street
Born in the east end of London, William Wallace Hunter moved to Swindon towards the end of the nineteenth century. In 1891 he lived over his furnishers shop at 24 Regent Circus with his wife, Mary, and their two young sons. But by 1901 William had built his spacious showrooms on the corner of Regent Street and Edgware Road and moved his family into a villa on Bath Road. Around 1905 William Hunter paid to have developed two streets off Ferndale Road and named one of them HUNTERS GROVE. According to Peter Sheldon and Richard Tomkins in their book Roadways, ST MARYS GROVE was named in honour of his wife.
With the outbreak of war in 1914, two of William’s three sons answered the call to the colours. William’s youngest son, Second Lieutenant William Samuel Hunter served with the 9th Battalion of the Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment and was killed in action on February 1, 1916. He was 21 years old.
William and his wife, Mary retired to Weston Super Mare where he died in 1936, but it would appear that the family furnishers remained in business until at least the 1940s.

In the b/w image we see that by the 1950s it had become a branch of the Woodhouse & Son chain but at least it was still selling furniture. But the original lettering along the side and front are almost obliterated. Thankfully, they have since been restored. It would later be a Laura Ashley shop and then a mobile phone store. It is currently empty.

This page was last updated on 16-Feb-2020.