William Percival Vint
Captain, Machine Gun Corps, 6th Battalion
Killed in action on 5 August 1918, aged 33
CWGC: "Son of William and Eleanor Vint, of Belfast. Educated at Bedford School, and 9 years in Nitrate Works, Chile, South America. Recommended twice for Albert Medal."
Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland
Remembered at Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, Poperinge, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium
Information from the 1911 census
In 1911 William Percival Vint was working in Chile, presumably at the Nitrate Works mentioned in the CWGC entry. His widowed mother, Eleanor Allen Vint, 53 in 1911, was living at 6 Connaught Mansions, Bromells Road in Clapham where she shared four rooms with her son Robert Ivo Vint, 18, a clerk, and her daughter Ellen Vint, 22, a secretary. William and Robert were born in Belfast; Ellen in Streatham.
British Army Service Records (National Archives)
In January 1919 William Vint's mother, Eleanor Vint, wrote to the War Office. Like many other bereaved mothers reliant on hand-outs from their sons, the William's death had left her with serious financial problems. She pleaded for access to any of his "back pay etc that may be due to him". "For some years past," she explained, "I have had a very small income from my son who has been most generous helping me as much as possible both before the war and during his service in the Army."
She outlined his Army career. "He came home from Latin America in the early part of 1915 to join the Army, paying the whole of his passage (with the exception of £5 repaid by the steamship company)." The records show that he sailed on the Victoria from Valparaiso, arriving in Liverpool on 6 April 1915. Nine days later he had joined the Inns of Court OTC (which noted his height as 5 feet 9 three-quarters inches with a 37 half inch chest with three inches expansion, and his eyesight was excellent), and just over two months after that he was discharged on his appointment to a commission. He joined the 11th Battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles, and was later attached to the 108th Brigade of the Machine Gun Corps, 36th Ulster Division.
A little over a year later, on 1 July 1916, the disastrous first day of the Battle of the Somme, he suffered shellshock. At Thiepval, where many years later a massive monument to the missing of the Somme was erected, he was knocked unconscious for around an hour. By 4 July he was on a boat headed for Dover.
He knew nothing of what happened, according to the Medical Board, which described his symptoms: "confused, restless, impaired memory and very tired. Slow pulse." He suffered "headaches, difficulty in getting off to sleep, lacking confidence, tired easily." He was granted leave for two months and sent to recuperate at the 100-bed Endsleigh Palace Hospital for Officers, a former hotel in Endsleigh Gardens in the West End of London.
At the end of September, William was reassessed by the Medical Board. "His condition has greatly improved. His nerves are excellent, he has full confidence in himself, and can do a fair amount of physical exercise. He is fit for general service.
He was transferred to Harrowby Camp, the Machine Gun Corps' vast training centre at Grantham in Lincolnshire, where he was a bombing instructor. "He was twice instrumental in saving life from bombing accidents and recommended for the Albert Medal," wrote his mother.
He returned to France (the records do not say when), gazetted as acting Captain on 28 June 1918.
Eleanor Vint appears to have written to the War Office again in July 1920. Her letter has not survived by the War Office's reply has. It explains to her that the war gratuity (in recognition of William's service as a cadet) that she enquired about had formed part of an earlier payment to her. The letter politely directed her to make an application for Grant of Allowance.
Probated will
London 14 March 1919: 14 Rectory Grove, Clapham. To Eleanor Allen Vint, widow, £197 2s. 2d.
Wisden
Obituaries during the war, 1918
VINT, CAPT. WILLIAM PERCIVAL (Machine-Gun Corps.), killed August 5, aged 33. Bedford Grammar School XI, about 1901-02.