William Charles Hill was a Londoner who married in Walthamstow in 1895. He went on to have two children and worked as a clerk. In May 1943 William was one of the elderly patients from east London being looked after at an emergency hospital established at New Hall in Boreham. In May 1943 the hospital was bombed by the German air force and William was fatally injured, dying two months later in a Chelmsford hospital. The attack claimed the lives of at least ten other people. William's home was in Walthamstow/

William was born in Borough, Surrey in 1869, the son of Joseph J. Hill and Charlotte A. Hill.

When aged two the 1871 census recorded William with his parents and two elder brothers at 14 King's Road Court in Lambeth, Surrey. His father was then employed as a waterman. A decade later the 1881 census found him aged 12, with his parents and four younger siblings at 22 Clarence Street in Rotherhithe, Surrey, His father was still working as a waterman.

On 14th April 1895 William, aged 26, married Sarah Blumson at St Michael and All Angels' Church in Walthamstow.

The couple had two children born in Homerton, Middlesex - William Arthur Hill (born in 1897) and Doris Lilian Hill (1899-1977). When William Artnur was baptised at Homerton his father was a clerk living at 3 Marsh Hill, Homerton.

William Charles HILL, Civilian

Died in Chelmsford from injuries received in an air raid at Boreham. Aged 73

The 1901 census listed 31 year-old William, his wife and two children at 9 Clifton Avenue in Walthamstow. He was a clerk in a drapery warehouse. A decade later the 1911 census recorded William, aged 41, living with his wife and two children at 49 Jewel Road in Walthamstow. William was a clerk.

By May 1943 he was a patient at New Hall Emergency Hospital in Boreham. The hospital had been set up there in the summer of 1940 when elderly patients were transferred there from Suttons Institution at Hornchurch after the latter's requisition by the Air Ministry.

On 14th May 1943 Chelmsford suffered its heaviest German air raid of the war. During the raid the 270 bed New Hall Emergency Hospital was targeted and two high explosive bombs scored direct hits on the building and caused at least eleven fatalities. Seven died at the hospital, four others died later, among them was 73 year-old William who succumbed to his injuries on 24th July 1943 in St. John's Hospital, Chelmsford. At the time his wife was living at 3 Russell Road in Walthamstow.

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