Private William FORTNAM (1871–c.1898)

William Fortnam was born in Stokenchurch in 1871 and baptised there on 1 September that year. (Stokenchurch was then in Oxfordshire, but was transferred to Buckinghamshire in 1896.) He was the son of Edward Fortnam and Elizabeth Pike who were married at Ramsbury, Wiltshire on 6 December 1856.

His parents had seven other children baptised at Stokenchurch, of whom three died in childhood and were buried there:

• Olive Fortnam (bapt 22 August 1858)
• Edith Fortnam (bapt. 22 July 1860, died aged seven, buried 1 January 1868)
• Kate Fortnam (bapt. 26 July 1863)
• Charles Pike Fortnam (bapt. 24 September 1865)
• Edith Fortnam II (bapt. 2 August 1868, died aged three, buried 7 March 1872)
• Thomas Fortnam (bapt. 30 August 1874, died aged six months, buried 23 February 1875)
• Thomas George Fortnam (born 25 January 1877 and bapt. 28 March)

William's father was variously described as a labourer, carter, carrier, and stone carver in the baptismal registers.

At the time of the 1881 census William (9) was living in Stokenchurch with his father Edward (55), now described as a farm labourer, his mother Elizabeth (48), and his brothers Charles (15) and George (4). His mother died in Stokenchurch at the age of 56 in 1889.

By the time of the 1891 census William (19) had enlisted in the Oxfordshire Light Infantry and was living in the New Barracks at Alverstoke in Gosport, Hampshire.

William's father Edward Fortnam died in Stokenchurch at the age of 70 near the beginning of 1895.

William Fortnam served as a Private in the 2nd Battalion of the Oxfordshire Light Infantry (regimental number 3350) both on the Punjab Frontier and at Tirah in 1897/8.

He died of disease at the age of about 27 in c.1898 and was posthumously awarded the India Medal with two clasps.