Gunner William Frederick Govier, 119496, 186th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery, was killed on March 21st, 1918, when a shell exploded outside the battlefield cookhouse where he and a companion were on duty. His unnamed companion was also killed.

Church of England Chaplain the Rev H. A. Norton in a letter to Mrs Mabel Govier, at 122 Baker Street, Luton, said pieces of the shell had pierced the iron sheeting which formed the wall of the cookhouse and struck the two men inside.

At the time of the 1911 Census, William was living with his widower father George in Hendon, Middlesex. His mother, Agnes, had died in 1905.

By 1913 he was living in Luton and married Mabel Gertrude Squires at St Paul's Church on April 5th. By the time William joined the R.G.A. in September 1916 they had two children - Mabel Elizabeth and William George. Tragically, a third child (James Frederick), born after William's own death, died in May 1918 when only a month old.

William had been employed as a painter by coachbuilder Henry Squires, Mabel's brother, of 54 Chobham Street. Mabel's father William, of 19 Albert Road, Luton, was also a coachbuilder.