Royal Flying Corps, Service no. 111952 & Royal Army Medical Corps, Service no. 205229
Born: March 1882. Died: 1953.
Story
William was the son of David Bickerdike (1852-1937) and Susannah Holmes (1853-1927). William had epilepsy, which was little understood, and after working as a Pony Driver in the pits, he spent time in Tadcaster Union Workhouse. William’s parents moved to 6 Tadcaster Street, Wingate Road, Armley, where they took William to be employed as a lamp-cleaner by Mr. Webb of New Wortley Gas Works, a site occupied for many years by British Gas.
On 10th December 1917, aged 35 years and 9 months, William enlisted for the Royal Flying Corps, working as a mechanic on planes such as the Sopworth Camel, below:
During his service, he was admitted to hospital several times, including one entry on 22nd December 1917, after which, on 27th April 1918, he was discharged as being no longer physically fit for active service.
On his discharge papers, the reason is stated as feeble mindedness, the origin of which was uncertain, but related to civil life, and therefore the army refused to be held responsible. They added: “Patient has a past history of Epilepsy since childhood and was admitted to this Hospital from Halton Camp following an Epileptic seizure in December. There is a history of his having been under treatment for many years.”
Undeterred, William re-enlisted after the War on 21st July 1919, joining the Royal Army Medical Corps. He promptly suffered a loss of speech in July, and lost the use of his right leg at the same time. He attributed this to a cold picked up at Squiregate, Blackpool, when he got caught in the rain. He was admitted to hospital on the 9th October 1919 with tonsillitis, and then treated until 19th December for sarcoma of the tonsils. After spending time in several hospitals (Preston, Leeds, Manchester, Ripon, York, Lichfield, Edinburgh), he was admitted to military hospital on 15th April 1920 and treated for a month for syphilis, and heart problems after falling out of breath very easily. He was finally discharged on 29th July 1920, with hemiplegia, which is a paralysis, down the right side of his body. It is not clear whether William had any of these illnesses, but he seems to have spent much of the War receiving treatment for various health problems. After his discharge, William returned to live in Leeds, and passed away at the age of 71.
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