Toyne, William Charles
Age: 27
Date of birth: c1888
Parents: William and Martha Toyne
Wife: Single
Address: Offendene, 41 All Saints Road
Occupation: Sergeant, Indian Supply and Transport Corps
William Charles was born in Bangalore, India on 9th July 1888 and baptised on 8th August 1888 at Holy Trinity Church, Bangalore. He was the eldest son of Farrier Quartermaster Sergeant Charles W Toyne of the 21st Hussars and his first wife Martha. He had served in South Africa during the Boer War from 1899-1902.
William was educated in Ireland and on the 1901 census, aged 12, he was at the Royal Hibernian Military School in Phoenix Park, Castleknock, Dublin.
William had one sister, Annie Elizabeth, born 1889 and one brother, John, born 1891 also born in India.
On the 1911 Census William’s brother, John, had joined the 4th Queen’s Own Hussars and was based in Colchester. During the war he fought in France and was wounded in June 1915. He survived the war but died in Warwick in 1927 at the age of 36.
William’s sister, Annie Elizabeth, married Bertie Rooke in 1908 and they had two daughters. The family moved to Canada and then the USA. Annie died in Illinois, USA in 1941.
William’s father, Charles, after his second marriage to Catherine in 1903, lived in Warwick for many years and died in 1937 aged 75.
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Warwick Advertiser 25th September 1915 – Local War Items p8
“Mr C. W. Toyne of High St Warwick has received an official notification that it has been reported from Mesopotamia that his son, Sergt. W. C. Toyne, was killed in action on July 24th 1915. Accompanying this was a letter from the Viceroy of India, Lord Harding, conveying to Mr. Toyne the sympathy of the King-Emperor and Queen-Empress.”
William’s Shrine Application:
Military Service
Rank & Number: Sergeant, 7604
Regiment/Service: 2nd Battalion, The Queens Own (Royal West Kent) Regiment
Brigade/Division: 12th Indian Brigade
Date of death: Saturday, July 24, 1915
Cause of death/Battle: Killed in action at Nasiriych
Commemorated/Buried: Basra Cemetery, Iraq
Awards: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal
Commemorated locally at:
In 1902 at the age of 14 William enlisted in the 2nd Batallion Royal Irish Fusiliers serving with the regiment in India. He was transferred to the India Supply and Transport Corps and when war was declared in August 1914 he was sent to the Persian Gulf with the 1st Indian Expeditionary Force.
William was present at the taking of Basra and Kurnah. Later at Kurnah he received the offer of a commission and was attached as a probationer to the 2nd Royal West Kent Regiment. He was serving with this regiment when he was killed leading a platoon against Turkish entrenchments at Nasiriyeh.
Contributors
- Unlocking Warwick Research Group
- Warwick Advertiser excerpts courtesy of Warwickshire County Record Office
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