WOOTTON, William
| Service Number: | 7606 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 6 March 1917, Brisbane, Queensland |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 14th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Gladstone, Queensland, Australia, 18 May 1895 |
| Home Town: | Rockhampton, Rockhampton, Queensland |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Labourer |
| Died: | Shell Fire, France, 31 May 1918, aged 23 years |
| Cemetery: |
Allonville Communal Cemetery Grave B. 12., Allonville Communal Cemetery, Allonville, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour |
World War 1 Service
| 6 Mar 1917: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 7606, Brisbane, Queensland | |
|---|---|---|
| 14 Jun 1917: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 7606, 15th Infantry Battalion, Enlistment/Embarkation WW1, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '11' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Hororata embarkation_ship_number: A20 public_note: '' | |
| 14 Jun 1917: | Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 7606, 15th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Hororata, Sydney | |
| 4 May 1918: | Transferred AIF WW1, Private, 14th Infantry Battalion | |
| 31 May 1918: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 7606, 14th Infantry Battalion, "Peaceful Penetration - Low-Cost, High-Gain Tactics on the Western Front", --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 7606 awm_unit: 14 Battalion awm_rank: Private awm_died_date: 1918-05-31 |
Correction of Errors previously submitted
William Wootton was the son of Frederick Wootton and Annie Mander.
He married Martha Brodie on 6 October, 1916. Martha's family called her by the name Ina to distinguish her from a cousin who was also named Martha.
Thomas Wootton, regimental number 416, was born in Byford, England and enlisted in Western Australia. Thomas' brother, William, was also born in Byford and is no relation to William Wooton No. 7606.
Submitted 6 June 2021 by Kerry Donaghy
Devoted solider and dedicated friend
William WOOTTON (sn 7606) was born at Gladstone, QLD, on 18 May 1895.
In 1916, William married Ina (Martha) BRODIE. He worked as a labourer and they lived at 458 Upper Roma Street Brisbane, QLD.
On 6 March 1917, William WOOTTON joined the 25 – 15th Battalion as a private. Three months later he departed Sydney aboard the HMAT A20 Hororata, bound for England. He was hospitalised aboard the ship for a week, suffering mumps in August 1917. In England, William WOOTTON spent from August to November 1917 at the Codford Training Camp in Wiltshire. This is where William WOOTTON became mates with another Australian private, Bertie George ENGLERT (7342) of the 14th Battalion.
In March 1918, William WOOTTON travelled to France from Southampton to join the fighting on the Western front. When William learned that his mate Bertie ENGLERT was also in France, he requested a transfer to Bertie’s 14th Battalion. This decision would end in tragedy.
In the early hours of 31 May 1918, soldiers of the 14th Battalion were sleeping soundly in two barns on the grounds of the Allonville Chateau north-east of Amiens in France. Witness accounts from the time confirm that close mates William and Bertie were side by side on their makeshift bunks. Just after 2am, two German shells – fired from behind enemy lines some 9 miles away – struck both barns, destroying roofs and walls. William WOOTTON and his mate Bertie ENGLERT were among the many Australian soldiers killed instantly.
William, Bertie, and the other victims of the bombing are buried at the Allonville Communal Cemetery in France.
William WOOTTON’s widow, Ina Martha, remarried sometime after the war, and it took until 1932 for her to receive William’s Victory Medal, Memorial Plaque, 1914/15 Star and his British War Medal.
Lest we forget.
Submitted 10 August 2016 by Jason Smith
Biography contributed by Geoffrey Gillon
He was 24 and a son of John and Frances Wootton.
He is remembered on the war memorial at BYFORD & MANSEL GAMAGE, along with his brother who also fell. He was Thomas Wootton-Sergeant -Regimental number 416-Australian Infantry 16th Battalion.He died on Wednesday 26 September 1917-Age 26
Biography contributed by Evan Evans
From François Berthout
Private 7606 William Wooton,
14th Australian Infantry Battalion, 4th Brigade,
4th Australian Division
The Somme, here in the north of France, more than a hundred years ago, fought and fell a whole generation of men who in the mud, under fire, in barbed wire gave their today and had as only youth the hell of war and the bloodbaths of the battlefields on which they now rest in peace under the shadows of their white graves and on the poppy fields that remind us that here, for peace and freedom in which we live, thousands of young men shed their blood and did not have the chance to return home and who here, in these lands of Remembrance, will always be remembered and honored with love and respect, with the gratitude of our hearts and of France which will be forever grateful to these young boys of whom we will always take the greatest care so that they are never forgotten, so that they live forever.
Today, it is with deep respect and gratitude that I would like to honor the memory of one of these young men who gave his all, his life for our tomorrow.I would like to pay a very respectful tribute to Private number 7606 William Wooton who fought in the 14th Australian Infantry Battalion, 4th Brigade, 4th Australian Division, and who was killed in action 103 years ago, on May 31, 1918 at the age of 23 on the Somme front.
William Wooton was born on May 18, 1895 in Gladstone, Queensland, Australia, and was the son of John and Frances Wooton, he was married to Ina Wooton and lived in Brisbane, Queensland where he served for two years in the Senior Cadets and worked as a labourer.
William enlisted on March 6, 1917 in Brisbane, Queensland, in the 15th Australian Infantry Battalion and after a training period of three months, he embarked with his unit from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A20 Hororata and sailed for Liverpool, England, where he was disembarked on August 26, 1917 and was sent to Codford the next day,on August 27 to receive his training with the 4th Training Battalion and then with the 12th Training Battalion three months later, on November 4, 1917.
Four months later, after having completed his training, William embarked with his battalion from Southampton, England, and proceeded overseas for France on March 6, 1918 and was disembarked at Le Havre on March 7 then was taken on strength on March 13 and sent on the Somme front where he was transferred and taken on strength in the 14th Australian Infantry Battalion on May 4, 1918 after the battle of Villers-Bretonneux.
Unfortunately, it was at Allonville, Somme, three weeks later, on May 31, 1918, that William met his fate.
Very early in the morning of May 31, 1918, while he was resting in a barn alongside several of his comrades of the 14th Australian Infantry Battalion in the village of Allonville, the German artillery opened fire on the village and 7 or 8 high velocity shells hit the barn in which William was located with catastrophic effects and William was immediately killed along with 16 other of his comrades and 12 others died of their wounds.William was 23 years old.
Today, William Wooton rests in peace with his friends, comrades and brothers in arms at Allonville Communal Cemetery, Somme.
William had a brother who fought in the first world war, Private number 416 Thomas Wooton who fought in the 16th Australian Infantry Battalion and was sadly killed in action in Belgium on September 26, 1917 and unfortunately his body was never found. Thomas Wooton is remembered and honored with respect at the Menin Gate, Ypres.
William, Thomas, you who fought with bravery in France, in the Somme and in Belgium and who, in the fields of poppies gave your lives, today I would like from the bottom of my heart to say thank you and express you my gratitude for all that you have done for us, for Australia and France where you rest today in peace alongside your brothers in arms who fought with the greatest courage in the trenches of the great war and on the battlefields which saw a whole generation of courageous and exceptional men who served with pride and who fell under the fire of the machine guns which they faced with bravery in heroic assaults in which they shed their blood and gave their lives.They were young, so young but acted with honor and courage and all answered the call of duty to do their duty and do their part in this great war to make their country proud and it is together, side by side that they left for the war, for the front line trenches and which they fought beyond their limits, beyond courage under the fire of the artillery which decimated their ranks and which transformed peaceful landscapes into fields of death and destruction on which so many heroes lived and died. In the cold, in a thick and sticky mud they showed the courage of a whole generation of men who fought shoulder to shoulder under the same uniform, united in camaraderie and mateship and who, in blood and clay fought in the name of justice and democracy, of peace and liberty. Under the fire of thousands of cannons, under storms of fire and howling metal, they stood tall and proud, they never took a single step back and with determination, with conviction they held the line despite enormous losses, they paid every step forward in blood and tears, in the pain and fury of the battlefields but they never gave up, their courage, their hopes was never shattered and it was side by side that they all went over the top, they climbed the wooden ladders and came out of their trenches alongside their comrades, all together moved forward and rifles, bayonets forward, they charged under the fire of hell which was raining down on them, in furious battles but never retreated. Together they fought and together they fell and still rest united in comradeship in the cemeteries, the white cities and the poppy fields of the Somme on which they gave their lives, their all.Gone but not forgotten, they have today found the peace for which they fought and which they all hoped for and in which I walk today between the rows of their graves to honor their memory and share their stories, I would always watch over them with the highest respect to bring them back to life and so that their courage, their lives and their sacrifices are never forgotten, now, tomorrow and forever we will remember them.Thank you so much William, Thomas,for everything. At the going down of the sun and in the morning,we will remember them.
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