William Bullimore

Gunner 786 3/4th North Midlands (Howitzer) Brigade, Royal Field Artillery

Royal Artillery Cap Badge | Hungerford Virtual Museum
Royal Artillery Cap Badge
Hungerford Virtual Museum
Announcement of the death of William Bullimore: Grantham Journal, 23rd February, 1940. | British Newspaper Archive
Announcement of the death of William Bullimore: Grantham Journal, 23rd February, 1940.
British Newspaper Archive

One of three Bullimore brothers, William, Henry and Arthur, each of whom probably served with the army in WW1.

Family background

William Bullimore was born in 1876 at Stainwith (now known as Stenwith), near Woolsthorpe by Belvoir though in the parish of Barrowby. He was the second of four sons of John Bullimore, a farm worker from Heckington, Lincolnshire, and Ann Bullimore, who came from Billingborough, also in Lincolnshire. In 1881 they lived in Muston, where there were five children: John (aged 13, already at work as a farm labourer), Mary Ann (10), Elisa (7), William (5) and Henry (1). In 1891, they were on Bridle Road, Barrowby, now with William’s grandfather, Joseph Bullimore, 69, a widower still at work as a farm labourer. The older children had left, but William Henry and Arthur (4) were still at home. William was now at work as a farm labourer.

Joseph Bullimore died before the next census in 1901 when John and Ann had moved to Stainwith with their sons William, Henry and Arthur. William and Henry were both ironstone labourers, and Arthur worked as an agricultural labourer.

William Bullimore married Mary Ellen Taylor in 1907. By 1911 they were living on Tweltridge’s Row, Muston, with their infant son George William (b.1909) and 7 year old John William Taylor, William’s stepson. William Bullimore was still employed in the ironstone quarries at this time.

Military service

Several medal index cards have been examined, but one stands out as most probably his. This indicates that he was Gunner 786 of the 4th North Midlands Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery. He enlisted on the 7th August 1914 and  served overseas until discharged on the 29th July 1916 as “no longer physically fit for war service”, “wounds 392 (xvi)”. He was awarded Silver War Badge no.92007 on the 13th December 1916.

It is noted that the Grantham Journal of July 17th 1915 carried a brief note saying that news had been received in Exton by the parents of Private William Bullimore of the 1/5th Leicesters that he had been wounded, having served in France for four months. Exton lies in Rutland, and so this is unlikely to refer to the William Bullimore from Stenwith.

After the end of the war

Mary Ellen Bullimore died aged 38 on the 11th November 1918, at Duke’s Farm, Bottesford (Grantham Journal, 23rd November 1918). William Bullimore had returned to live at Stainwith, where he was registered as a voter in the early 1920s. In the 1939 register he was recorded, still living at Stainwith, now widowed, working as a farm labourer, aged 54.

William Bullimore died suddenly in 1940, when aged 65.

Comments about this page

  • This is so interesting. I am one of his great grandchildren and never knew about this. Thank you for preserving it, it means a lot .

    By Susan Swinburn (01/10/2020)
  • The GRO register site shows that William and Mary Ellen Bullimore had their fifth child, a daughter named Lilian, in Q4 1918. Presumably Mary Ellens death on 11 Nov 1918, alas, was linked to problems with the birth.

    By Bill Pinfold (24/01/2021)

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