William John Elwick Feltham (London, 1919)
[Colonial Studio (F. Segers) December 1918 - April 1919]
[United Kingdom: England, Greater London, London]
William (1887-1952) was my first grandson, born of my oldest son John William Feltham (1856-1938). He enlisted at the age of 29 years (23rd August 1916) with the 12th Battalion from Newtown, Tasmania and embarked overseas to the First World War (1914-1918) aboard the HMS Suffolk (20th September 1916). Private William Feltham was wounded in France, on the left side and left leg, and captured on the 13th April 1917. He was held as a prisoner of war in Germany, before being repatriated to England on the 23rd of December 1918. Whilst in London he was photographed (see picture above). William returned back to Australia on the 10th of May 1919, learning that I had already died (11th of October 1918). Some of the family believed that I had died as a result of the worry about William's fate.
The Mercury (Hobart, Tas) Newspaper on 17th of July 1917 reported that William John Elwick Feltham, of Newtown, previously reported missing, has been confirmed as a PRISONER OF WAR [link].
William was the first of my many descendents to return to mother England though he never managed to visit my family or birthplace in Dorset.
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