COMMEMORATED IN PERPETUITY BY THE

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

The Field Ambulance was a mobile front line medical unit (it was not a vehicle), manned by troops of the Royal Army Medical Corps. Most Field Ambulances came under command of a Division, and each had special responsibility for the care of casualties of one of the Brigades of the Division. 40th Field Ambulance of the Royal Army Medical Corps served with 13th (Western) Division as part of Kitchener's 1st New Army.

Driver William Prior embarked for his first operation overseas on Christmas Day 1915, his destination was Egypt. The Division concentrated at Port Said, holding forward posts at the Suez Canal defences. On 12th February 1916 they moved to Mesopotamia to join the force being assembled near Sheikh Sa'ad for the relief of the besieged Garrison at Kut al Amara. They joined the Tigris Corps on the 27th March and were in action at the Battle of Kut al Amara, the capture of the Hai Salient, the capture of Dahra Bend and the Passage of the Diyala, in pursuit of the enemy towards Baghdad. Unfortunately that was probably the last young William Prior saw of his unit, as he was struck with disease and died on June 12th 1916, aged just 19.

Source: https://www.wartimememoriesproject.com

Amara was occupied by the Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force on 3 June 1915 and it immediately became a hospital centre. The accommodation for medical units on both banks of the Tigris was greatly increased during 1916 and in April 1917, seven general hospitals and some smaller units were stationed there.

Amara War Cemetery contains 4,621 burials of the First World War, more than 3,000 of which were brought into the cemetery after the Armistice. 925 of the graves are unidentified. In 1933, all of the headstones were removed from this cemetery when it was discovered that salts in the soil were causing them to deteriorate. Instead a screen wall was erected with the names of those buried in the cemetery engraved upon it.

According to the 1861 census, the Prior family have lived in Steventon since at least 1817. William was born at No.3 Station Cottages, Steventon and was living there in 1911, working as a Farm Labourer. (1911 Census). He was the youngest son of 10 children; 3 brothers, 1 sister, sadly 5 siblings died young. William's father Jesse had been working for Great Western Railways as a Platelayer since at least 1901. Jesse died the same year as William (1916). William's mother, Maria went on to marry William Clarke in 1917 and is listed as Dependant - Maria Clarke on William's Army service Pension card. 

Prior Crescent in Steventon is named after this soldier's family. Please click here for further information.