Born the son of Dorothy Woolston at 3, Queen Street William was the only member of the Filey Casualties to serve in the Royal Navy itself in World War I and was aboard the H.M.S. Indefatigable, a large battleship with about 800 crew.  He died during the Battle of Jutland when his ship was hit by two full artillery salvos early in the battle.

Only two of the crew survived, and William’s body was never found so he is remembered on the Plymouth Naval Memorial.  At the time, the local paper reported that his brother was feared amongst the dead from the same Battle as his ship had been sunk also, but this turned out to be erroneous information.