William Smith a Coggeshall basket weaver
William was born in the Fleece in about 1886. He was an agricultural labourer when he joined the Norfolk Regiment in WW1 but was wounded four months from the end of the war in August 1918. His parents first being told that he was injured and then that he had lost his right foot. As Barbara Green notes below William was sent to Queen Mary's Hospital Roehampton This was established as a specialist centre for making and fitting prosthetic limbs to soldiers from the First World War. These soldiers would often be retrained for different jobs so it was almost certainly at Roehampton that William learnt the art of basket weaving which he put to use when he returned to Coggeshall in January 1920. His baskets were displayed on the pavement outside the Fleece as in this plate which shows William with some of his work and probably dates from the 1930's.
It is thought that this basketwork sidecar, pictured in Abbey Lane, was made by him.
Another plate of the Fleece from about 1935 shows William's baskets for sale.
And another image of William at work which was probably taken in the 1940's.
The two photos of William Smith are by courtesy of his granddaughter Dawn Ashworth.
If you can add anything about William, please get in touch using the box below.
Comments
By Barbara Green: William Frank Smith served in the 7th Norfolk Regiment from 2.8.16-3.1.1920. He sustained an injury in France resulting in a foot amputation.Sent to Queen Mary's Hospital, Roehampton to convalesce from 21.11.1919-3.1.1920. Received a pension of 40/-, later reduced to 20/-to support a wife and child.(Information obtained from British Army WW1 Service Records By Eleanor Green Clardy: How ironic, my grandmother was a Williams, my grandfather was a Smith, and my dad was a Green. My mother's ancestors came over on the Mayflower, were major property owners in Massachusetts. By Martin Wilcox: Fascinating. Trina Smith came from good stock. By Stephen Warne: The 1901 and1911 census records for the Fleece show the husband and wife were George and Sarah. There is another family living in another property by the names of George and Emily.
However in the 1911 census Sarah is recorded as Sarah E Smith. So did she start using her middle name at some point or is this a mix up? By Mike Atterbury: In the early 1950's William married my grandmother Kate. They were first cousins who reunited in later life and lived in Walford Way, Coggeshall until he died around 1959, when I was 6, but I still remember him and he was kind enough to leave all his own grandchildren and also his wife Kate's grandchildren too, a small amount of money each, which just shows what a nice caring man he was.