Huffer, William Herbert
William was born at Marylebone, London 16 January 1896, the eldest son of William and Elizabeth (nee Kirbyshire) Huffer. The family moved to Ashwell when William was about ten so he would have been a pupil at the Merchant Taylors School in Ashwell.
William enlisted with the 1st Bedfordshire Regiment, Regimental Number 4/6757, on 12 December 1912. He transferred to the Suffolk Yeomanry, Regimental Number 2963, and was sent to the Western Front, France and Flanders on 12 November 1914 where he saw active service at the Battles of Neuve Chapelle and Hill 60. He sustained a broken leg and severe burns through the explosion of a mine on 30 November 1915 and spent a number of months in a hospital in Rouen. On 21 December 1915 he was then sent to a hospital in Manchester to recover. He transferred again to the Corps of Hussars, Regimental Number 305413 and on 15 August 1917 was discharged as unfit for further military service. William survived the War.
He was awarded the 1914 Star, the British War Medal, the Victory Medal and then Silver War Badge.
He is commemorated on the St Mary’s Church Ashwell Roll of Honour.
William married Daisy E Bell in 2nd quarter 1920 at Stockton, Durham. They had four children born in Sedgefield, Durham: William H born 1921, James born 1923 (died 1923), Wilfred born 1924 (died 1928 at Ashwell), and Elizabeth Ann born at Ashwell in 1927.
The 1939 census shows him a builder’s labourer living at Ashwell, Hertfordshire.
William died at Ashwell, Hertfordshire on 4 July 1949.
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