WILLIAM GEORGE LOADER
1892 - 17th November 1916
William George Loader was born in 1892 in High Ham, near Langport in Somerset. High Ham is in
the civil parish of Somerset, and within the parish are the villages of High Ham and the hamlets of
Bowdens, Henley, Paradise and Picts Hill.
(St Andrews Church – High Ham)
William, or Willie as he liked to be known, was the son of John Loader, born in High Ham on 20th
June 1853 and Rose Anna Loader (Villis), born 1856 in Stowey, Somerset. Stowey is a small
village in the Chew Valley approximately 28 miles from High Ham. Willie’s parents, John and
Rose Anna married in the parish church in Llantwit Major on 3rd February, 1874 – Marriage
certificate No.37 in the church refers. John’s occupation was farm labourer. Their marriage was
witnessed by Francis Burt and Annie Loader.
By the 1881 census John and Rose Anna are living in Llanblethian, John now an agricultural
engineer with their first born child, Henry John, aged 6, born in Llanblethian. Henry John
subsequently married Bridget Loader (nee Brown) and their children were William, born 1896,
Francis, born 1898, Beatrice, born 1900, Henry Percival, born 1903, David H, born 1907, Mary T,
born 1910. Sadly Henry died in Merthyr Tydfil in 1910, aged 35, leaving a widow and six young
children. Bridget lived until she is 58 and died in Cardiff in 1932.
By the 1891 census the Loader family have returned to High Ham, and are living at 12, Henley. In
1901 the family are on the move again: they are now living at 6 Machen Street, Penarth. John is a
stone quarry worker, Willie and Lizzie D, who we understand was called Dora, is 8. Both children
have been born in High Ham. There were several quarries in Penarth during that period, one which
we now know to be Belle Vue Park. The quarry there was filled in around 1900, but as the ground
would not settle, it was used for grazing animals and houses could not be built on it. Belle Vue
produced some of the blue lias limestone used in so many of the houses in this area. The “South