William George Woodgate signature

On this day in 1916 William George Woodgate signed up in Belleville. He was born in Romford, Essex, England on January 9th, 1880, the son of William Woodgate and Amy (née Smith). The Woodgate family had left England for Canada in 1908 and were living in Deseronto at the time of the 1911 census. By 1913, William was married to Maud Beatrice Rand. In that year the couple had a daughter and William was working as the cemetery caretaker in Deseronto.

Woodgate joined the 155th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force with the regimental number 637032. He had military experience in the Royal Marines. He was later transferred to No. 3 Special Service Company. He was described as five feet eleven and three quarter inches tall, with a fair complexion, blue eyes and brown/grey/bald hair. He had tattoos on his arms: a lady in pannier dress on his right forearm and a crown with other devices on his left. His service record shows that he served in Canada for the duration of the war and was suffering from an inguinal hernia. William was discharged from Camp Barriefield in Kingston on January 23rd, 1919, with the rank of sergeant. In 1921 he and his wife and three daughters were living in Humberstone, Ontario and William was working as an engineer.