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As mentioned, William’s name appears on the Cannon Hill Park memorial, however it may have been a pretty close thing. His widow, Emma Stanton had a very hard time claiming a widow’s pension it was said. To discover how close, I decided to contact National Archives in hope of discovering further information, particularly concerning William's death by gas-gangrene, (his death record only records the failure of his organs). National Archives wrote back saying yes they did have records. They could send me 161, A3 size pages of records for £193 plus postage… As I live in Japan, I declined.

Again thank you for your research and suggestions.

Hi Sandy,
I have checked "The Prince of Wales's (North Staffordshire Regiment) South Africa 1899-1902 (The Second Boer War," a regimental history publication by Jeffrey Elson.
It offers no further information than that you already have, just the basic Medal Roll but no individual biographical details I'm afraid.
Good luck with your research.
Cheers Steve

Sandy - I have sent you a private message - to see it you will need to click on the "Private Messages" upwards and to the right.

Btw I have searched newspapers of the past and cannot find him on a reported casualty list - nearly every edition of The Army & Navy Gazette carried one during the Boer War which included the wounded as well as the dead. Tried the 1902 papers for a report on his presumed inquest but again nothing - on the basis the scanning device might have misread his name searched for "gas gangrene" and discovered the first mention of it as a recognised condition did not occur until WW1, so presumably the "gas gangrene" diagnosis was made some considerable time after his death but it would fit with a brass tunic button being left inside him.

As my previous quick-reply is not visible I’ll rewrite it. Thank you again for your research and it’s interesting to learn when the term gas-gangrene only came into common vocabulary during the WWI. It was my mother, (William’s grand-daughter), that told me he had died from chest gas gangrene and presumably she was told by her parents who went through the Great War, (her father served in the RFA and the Worcestershire’s early on in the conflict before being invalided out). If the term is used in William’s future entry on this website I’ll have to ask for a correction and give the stated coroner’s cause of death which I have obtained which was “Perforation of a duodenal ulcer and peritonitis” which can lead to organ failure.