Proctor, WH

Captain William Howard Proctor

Born on January 17^th 1894 in Meerut, India, William was the son of the Rev. William Proctor who was at the time serving in India as a missionary. He spent much of the early part of his education at St. Michael’s School in Limpsfield, Surrey, an institution run by the Church Missionary Society, of which his father was a member. In May 1910 he joined Dulwich, a few months before his younger brother George would also do so, and was at the College for just over two years. After leaving in the summer of 1912 he began work as an Assistant Master at Guildford Preparatory School, a position he held for a year before leaving to take up a position at Marlborough House School, Reading.

In August 1914 William signed up as a member of the Public Schools Battalion, Middlesex Regiment, but less than three months later he was granted a commission in the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment. In February 1915 he was promoted to Lieutenant, and that July went over to France for the first time, serving on the front line for the following year. In July 1916, shortly after being promoted to Captain, he was shot through the jaw whilst leading an attack at Bazentin-le-Petit, on the Somme. Despite the injury he continued to lead the assault, only stopping as a result of exhaustion caused by loss of blood; he was later awarded the D.S.O. in recognition of his actions that day. His injuries resulted in a prolonged spell of recuperation back in England which lasted for almost nine months until his return to the front in March 1917. Mere weeks later he was dead, having been shot by machine gun fire whilst leading an attack at Gavrelle, near Arras, on April 24^th.