William Henry John Pyne was born on 27 July 1908 in Bethnal Green, London, a son of William Pyne (1880-1969) and Amelia Jane Pyne née Russell (1884-1966). His birth was registered in the 3rd quarter of 1908 in the Bethnal Green Registration District. On 16 August 1908 he was baptised in St James the Great Church, Bethnal Green Road, London, E2, where in the baptismal register his date of birth was confirmed, that his family were shown to be living at 3 Brady's Buildings, Bethnal Green and that his father was a naval stoker.
When the 1911 census was undertaken he was shown as William John Pyne, aged 2 years and living in three rooms at 21 Malmesbury Road, Canning Town, Essex (now Greater London), with his parents. His father on the night of the census was shown as a donkeyman, away at sea.
In the 1921 census he was shown as aged 12 years, 10 months and in whole-time education, living in a five roomed property 56 Credon Road, Camberwell, London, with his parents and two siblings: George Stanley Pyne (b.1912) and Edith G. Pyne (b.1918). His father described himself a ship's donkeyman employed by Furness Withy & Co.
He married Marguerite Charlotte Bentley in the 1st quarter of 1936 in the Croydon Registration District, Surrey (now Greater London).
On 7 February 1938 he was appointed as a Postman in the London Postal Region.
He joined the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry, service number 5333657, and was attached to their 2nd Battalion, which formed part of the British Expeditionary Force in France in 1939. He died, aged 31 years, on 21 May 1940 at Dunkirk, France and as he has no known grave is commemorated on Column 61 of the Dunkirk Memorial in the Dunkirk Town Cemetery, 4044 Rte de Furnes, 59210 Coudekerque-Branche, France.
He is shown as 'PYNE, W. H. J.' on the Western Postal District war memorial in Mount Pleasant, London, WC1. He is also commemorated, incorrectly (in 2025) as aged 34 years, on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website and on page 208 in the Post Office Fellowship of Remembrance's Book of Remembrance 1939-1949).
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
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