Ludlow gains a VC hero after researcher's discovery

The inscribed stone in tribute to Able Seaman William Charles Williams, the first Royal Navy rating to be awarded the VC for more than 50 years, was inlaid into the cemetery wall at Stanton Lacy in 2016.

Williams posthumously gained the highest award for valour on April 25, 1915, during the landings at the start of the ill-fated Gallipoli campaign.

The surprise twist about his place of birth was revealed during research as part of a new paths project.

Michael Holland, co-ordinator of the Ludlow Parish Path Partnership Group, verified his discovery through birth and baptismal records.

The confusion arose because at the time of Williams' birth in 1880, the parish of Stanton Lacy stretched into Ludlow town.

"We prepared a route for him as one of our local country walks and in the process of researching a leaflet for this walk I found out that he was in fact born in Ludlow," said Mr Holland.

"They thought he was from Stanton Lacy because you naturally assume, when you mention the name of a village like Stanton Lacy, Bromfield, or Culmington, that you are talking about the village.

"But this was a special case because Stanton Lacy, for many decades, for centuries almost, has occupied a very large parish, and the parish actually reached into Ludlow. He was born in the parish of Stanton Lacy, and not the village."

Mr Holland said Williams was born at Gravel Hill in Ludlow in 1880, possibly at a property called Sandpits. This was four years before the parish boundary was redrawn in 1884.

"It was a local historical anomaly."

Despite the discovery, Mr Holland, who lives in Ludlow, wants to see the commemorative stone stay where it is.

"I'm very keen to allay fears that I'm trying to pinch anything."

However, he said: "I believe that the record should be corrected and that Ludlow should have a share with Stanton Lacy in the honouring of a holder of the Victoria Cross.

"It will be a bit of a surprise to folk in Ludlow, I think."

The new footpath named "Williams VC Way" in memory of Williams runs between Stanton Lacy and Fishmore Road, on the outskirts of Ludlow, and was launched in a ceremony on April 25, exactly 104 years to the day after his death.

It is a section of Walk 10 in the Ludlow Country Walks series and includes plaques remembering Williams on fingerposts at either end of the section.

The Reverend Father Justin Parker, Rector of the Bromfield benefice which includes Stanton Lacy, said: "He was born in Stanton Lacy, but they moved the boundaries. Stanton Lacy was the senior parish for the whole area, and in fact Stanton Lacy is the mother church for Ludlow. St Peter's Church at Stanton Lacy is the oldest church in the area – it's Saxon.

"We still think he is ours, but we will let Ludlow have a share as well. It's a nice story as the lovely thing is that the Williams VC Way starts in the village of Stanton Lacy and finishes in the parish of Ludlow, and is a lovely way of uniting the two. With a hero like William Charles Williams, I think there's enough to go round."

While he is honoured in Shropshire, the place of his birth, it is Chepstow in Wales which makes a major claim to Williams as a son, as the family moved there when he was seven or eight.

The scheme to lay commemorative stones at the birthplaces of Britain's Victoria Cross heroes was part of national commemorations for the centenary of the Great War.

The idea was that they should be laid in towns and villages exactly 100 years on since the making of the original award, although that was not possible in Williams' case as the stone did not arrive in time.

The stone is inscribed with a depiction of a VC and the words: "Able Seaman William Williams, Royal Navy, 25th April, 1915."

There is also a plaque to him in front of Stanton Lacy's war memorial.