William Carlton was born on May 12, 1914, the eldest son of Major William Frederick Griffin Carlton and Edith Carlton of Tecumseh Street, later 282 Confederation Street, Sarnia. William had a brother, Stanley Griffith and a sister, Jean. William Carlton was a star catcher on several Sarnia baseball teams as well as being active in most other sports, including hockey, football and softball. He not only played with local city baseball teams, but also graduated to intermediate teams and to the Strathroy seniors. Nicknamed “Farmer”, William also played local hockey, city league football and softball. William married Miss Mary Evelyn Willick, the eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J.A. Willick of Richard Street, Sarnia at Devine Street United Church on September 23, 1936. At the ceremony, Miss Joan Willick, the sister of the bride, served as maid of honour, and Sergeant Stanley Carlton, brother of the groom, served as the best man. Following the autumn ceremony, forty guests attended a reception at the home of the bride’s parents. After their marriage, William and Mary’s residential address was 250 Tecumseh Street, Sarnia and his occupation listed as a sailor.
On September 9th of 1939, William was the best man for his brother Stanley at his wedding. William’s brother, Sgt. Stanley Griffith Carlton of the 26th Battery R.C.A., would marry Mary Isabel Curran, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. F.P. Curran, Campbell Street, at St. John’s Anglican Church. The wedding took place one day before Canada officially declared war on Germany. The Sarnia (Canadian) Observer described it as the first military wedding held in Sarnia since the days of the Great War. Members of the 26th Battery provided a guard of honour at the church steps.
William Carlton enlisted in September 1939 and was initially stationed at Camp Petawawa. He would become a member of the Canadian Army, Western Ontario unit of the Royal Canadian Artillery, 4th Field Regiment, with the rank of Bombardier. While overseas, William was active in inter-unit sports and played baseball for his camp in the Canadian Army League. He was progressing within the army and, having secured his two stripes as a bombardier, was aspiring to become a sergeant.
In May of 1941, while in England, investigators believe William fell beneath a moving railway train and had both his legs crushed. The resulting shock caused his death on May 19, 1941. In Sarnia, William’s young wife, Mary Carlton, was at the Canadian Observer the next day during the lunch hour, renewing her husband’s subscription to the newspaper when a telegraph messenger was looking for her to deliver the telegram with its tragic news. William would officially be listed as, Overseas casualty, death due to multiple injuries caused by being run over by a railway train in Aldershot, England. William’s father, Major William Fred Carlton had predeceased William. William Carlton was survived by his wife Mary Evelyn Carlton; his mother Edith; his sister Jean Carlton; and his brother Sergeant Stanley Carlton, who was in the same military unit as his brother. Twenty-seven year old William Carlton was buried in Brookwood Military Cemetery in Surrey, United Kingdom, Grave 31.E.10. On William’s headstone are inscribed the words, Till the day break and the shadows flee away.
SOURCES: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, J, L, N, 2C, 2D