William John Joy

Appledore History Society was recently gifted several medals from his great nephew. Currently these items are being restored and will ultimately be framed and used at exhibitions and other historial events.

William Joy was born in 1898 in Appledore, Kent. In the 1911 census he was recorded as living at Hope Cottages, Snargate with his parents. His father was recorded as being a platelayer for the railway. William died and was buried in Appledore on 10th December 1919, with his address being given as 3 Station Villas, Kenardington (what is now referred to as Appledore), Kent.

His reason for death is provided as Lung disease. Below is an image of his dependents record, provided to his widow on his decease:

It is not possible to be specific where William received the gas, from which he was to later die, towards the end of 1919, however, the following account from the War Diary of the 1st Battalion, Machine Gun Corps, for April 30^th 1918, could possibly be the occasion.  The battalion was at the time responsible for manning the defences of the Le Quesnoy – Beuvry line:

“On the 18^th the Germans made a big attack on the Divisional front at Givenchy.  This was preceded by a very heavy bombardment.  A and C Company’s, who were completing their night’s work in the neighbourhood of the front line, were caught in the barrage and experienced great difficulty in returning to their billets.

C Company was for a time attached to the 1st SW Bords in the line and helped to repel the attack.  The enemy bombardment extended to the billeting area, gas shells being plentifully used, and we suffered a number of casualties to men in the billets, our total casualties during the day being 5 killed, 18 wounded, 10 gassed, 4 missing and 2 wounded, but remaining at duty.  Subsequently a number of men went to hospital gassed as a result of the gas shelling during the day”.

As a Unit of the 1st Division, it will have taken part in the following battles and engagements during 1918:

Battles of The Lys

• Battle of Estaires (I Corps, First Army) – 9th to 11th April                                   
• Battle of Hazebrouck (3rd Brigade, Under 55th Division, XI Corps, First Army] – 15th April
• Battle of Bethune [I Corps, First Army] – 18th and 19th April              

The Advance to Victory – Second Battle of Arras

• Battle of the Drocourt-Queant Line [Canadian Corps, First Army] – 2nd and 3rd September
• Battles of The Hindenburg Line
• Battle of Epehy [IX Corps, Fourth Army] – 18th September
• Battle of the St. Quentin Canal [IX Corps, Fourth Army] – 29th September to 2nd October
• Battle of the Beaurevoir Line [IX Corps, Fourth Army] – 3rd to 5th October                

   The Final Advance in Picardy

• Battle of the Selle [IX Corps, Fourth Army] – 17th to 25th October   
• Battle of the Sambre [IX Corps, Fourth Army] – 4th November
• Passage of the Sambre-Oise Canal – 4th November      

The Machine Gun Battalions were disbanded with the re-organisations of 1922 and the reversion to Machine Gun Platoons within Infantry Battalions.

Several items belonging to William Joy were donated to the Appledore Local History Society by his relative Richard, a member of the ALHS. Not much was known about him at the time, but after extensive research, it was discovered that William was attached to the Machine Gun Corp, a newly established regiment during WWI. His medals, insignia and other memoranda were then mounted by ALHS.

It is interesting to note that whilst William did not die during active engagement, he did die before 1921 (the official ending of the Great War), so was entitled to registration as a war casualty.

William Joy was buried in the now closed churchyard of St Peter’s and St Paul’s in Appledore. The image below shows his grave (with a poppy wreath). If you review the grave’s location on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission map, you will see it is grave no. 4.

His name is listed below. He is not, however, mentioned on the Appledore School roll of honour (as he probably did not attend Appledore School), but he is mentioned in the WW1 Memorial book created by Rev. Keith Fazzani and kindly donated to ALHS and in which William Joy was mentioned.