Private William John Broadfield 9711
4th Battalion, Worcestershire Regt
Died of wounds France and Flanders 13/06/1916
Pte Broadfield is buried in St Severs Cemetery in Rouen, France. He is on the Kidderminster War Memorial at St Mary’s, Kidderminster.
1881-1916. Born In Kidderminster, William was a painter & decorator aged 34 when he went out to Gallipoli with the 4th Worcesters. He survived that & came back to France on March 20th 1916 & died from a gunshot to the head on June 13th .
He left a widow Martha with 7 children ranging from 15 years to 16 months. Norman’s father Ted was the 7th of the 9 children born to the couple. One of William’s surviving children just failed to reach 70. The rest did & one was 93 when she died.
His widow Martha married a widower & between them cared for 12 children. In 2009 two of his grandsons & their wives followed his war route through France from the Regimental Diary. A very moving experience.
Extra information and picture supplied by Olive Broadfield, his granddaughter-in-law.
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