Acting Staff-Sergeant Major, Gloucestershire Hussars
Born: February 19th 1890
Died: September 21st 1918
Age at Death: 28
Killed in action, France, September 18th 1918
(Roll of Honour 1920)
Corrected to: Killed in action, Nazareth, Palestine, September 20th 1918.
A donation to the memorial statue has been made in honour of this soldier by Stephen Yiduo Chen (Sc.2011-2016).
BC Register: Son of J.E. Price of Stonehouse, Gloucestershire.
Notes from Arthur J Price - great-nephew of William: Contrary to the Brighton College Roll of Honour, 1920. William was killed in action 20th September at Nazareth, Palestine, where he was initially buried. Later transferred to Haifa War Cemetery, Israel: Price Squadron Sergeant Major W. E. 235056.
Second child and eldest son of John Edward and Rebecca Price, later of Chelworth Manor near Crudwell.
Gloucester Journal. 1st March 1890. p8.
Born Feb 18th 1890. Slimbridge. Son of J E Price. He joined the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars Yeomanry territorial army in c.1913. He was called up as soon as war was declared in 1914 and joined the RGH at Gloucester. On identity tag RGH 235656 W. E. Price SGT. Awarded Military medal 1917.
Additional memorials:
Elkstone Churchyard. Text on parents’ gravestone:
“And also Serg Major William Edward Price
Eldest son of the above
Killed in action at Nazareth Sept 20th 1918. Aged 28”
Crudwell Church NGR ST956 929. Visited 24th April 1984 by Arthur J Price. “W. E. Price” on war memorial.
Gloucester Cathedral College Green. On RGH war memorial: “Sqdn. Srgt. Major. W. E. Price”
Sergeant-Major William Edward Price (School House 1906)
William Edward Price was born in Slimbridge, Gloucestershire on 19th February 1890. He was the eldest son and second child of John Price, a farmer, and his wife Rebecca. The family lived on a manor farm in a hamlet called Chelworth in Gloucestershire. It is unclear why Price spent a short period as a pupil at the College aged 16, but it is clear that he left education shortly afterwards as his occupation is listed in the 1911 census as a son working on his father’s farm. The experience gained with horses on the farm may have been a contributory factor to his choice of regiment.
On the outbreak of war Price enlisted in the Gloucestershire Hussars, a regiment of Yeomanry cavalry. He first saw action, as a Private, in the Egyptian theatre in April 1915. Over the course of the war Price was promoted through the non-commissioned ranks, reaching the rank of Sergeant-Major in 1918. The Gloucestershire Hussars initially formed part of the Yeomanry Division but, unlike the other Yeomanry regiments, were not sent to France in 1918 but instead remained in Palestine as part of the 5th Cavalry Division. Price was therefore involved in cavalry charges during the fast moving and victorious ‘Battle of Armageddon’ (or Meddigo) in September 1918, which resulted in the final destruction of the Turkish Army and the subsequent Ottoman surrender. It was in the course of this battle that Price was killed in action near Nazareth on 21st September 1918.
His grave is in the Haifa War Cemetery, Israel.
Source: LEST WE FORGET Project, Brighton College 2014-15