Apart from what we think might be his medal card, we are having difficulty tracing the military existence of this soldier. William Charles Manbridge was born in 1880 in Halkyn. His father was John Mansbridge and he was a teacher and his mother was Alice K Manbridge. They were both born in Mold. In the 1881 census, William was 9 months old and their only child.

Birth certificate ref William Charles Mansbridge
b1880
Qtr Sept
District Holywell
Vol 11b
Page 260

At the next census in 1991 10 year old William was living in The Swan cottage, Gwernymynydd with his grandfather – John Mansbridge a lead mine agent and his aunt Caroline Davies.  The rest of William’s family were still in Flintshire – living in Ffordd Las, Mold. John was still a schoolteacher and the family had grown as there were now four more children – Caroline K 7, Mabel E 5, Eva A 3 and the baby of one year who had the lovely name of ‘Pleasant’.

By the 1901 census this family had moved to Derbyshire. John now 46 was no longer a teacher, he was a gardener. His wife Alice was 45 and there were more children. Living with them were Eva A 13, Pleasant 11, Florence 9, Jasper 6 and Hilda 3. We cannot find William Charles on the census.

In 1911 William Charles Mansbridge was the licencee of the Swan Inn at Gwernymynydd. He was 30 years old and was married to Alice Mary (from Northants) who assisted in the business. They had two children Jack was 3 and Mabel was 2. Also living with them was Hilda, William’s sister who was 13.

One piece of military history that we have found concerns William’s little brother Jasper. He signed up to the Australian Imperial Force on 23rd January 1915 when he was 20. He names as his next of kin  brother William Mansbridge of Gwernymynydd Mold, North Wales.