Cumming, William Francis (William)
Corporal
No. 40964, 1st Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers (formerly Ayrshire Yeomanry)
Killed in action on Tuesday 5 June 1917 (aged 28)
No known grave
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Arras Memorial, France (Bay 5)
Greyabbey and District War Memorial located on the outside wall of
Greyabbey Parish Church of Ireland Church (St Saviour’s)
BIOGRAPHY
William Francis Cumming was born on 12 July 1888 in Kircubbin and he was the only child of John and Isabella Cumming (nee McMaster) who were married on 14 October 1887 in Innishargie Church of Ireland Church (St Andrew’s), Balligan. John Cumming from Greyabbey was a son of Hugh Cumming, a weaver. Isabella Mcmaster from Kircubbin was a daughter of William McMaster.
The Cumming family lived in Kircubbin and Greyabbey.
John Cumming worked as a wool weaver and his wife Isabella died of tuberculosis in Greyabbey on 18 December 1893 (aged 26) when William was 5 years old.
During his teenage years William Francis Cumming moved to Scotland and prior to the outbreak of the Great War he worked in Scotland as a gardener. William won several prizes and medals for his essays on horticultural subjects.
William Francis Cumming joined the Ayrshire Yeomanry in September 1915 and was promoted to the rank of Sergeant some ten months later. He qualified First Class as a machine gunner and also First Class in musketry. After that he was appointed as an instructor at the Ayrshire Yeomanry School of Musketry.
On learning that his Regiment was not going to France he secured a transfer to the Royal Scots Fusiliers in December 1915 and immediately thereafter volunteered for active service. In April 1917 Corporal Cumming was wounded by a shell at Arras and he had only been back with his Regiment for a short time when he was killed in action on 5 June 1917. He has no known grave.
Newspaper reports after his death paid tribute to William Cumming’s ‘bright and cheery disposition, his Christian principles and his intellectual qualities’.
Corporal William Francis Cumming (No. 40964) was 28 when he died and he is commemorated on the Arras Memorial in France and on Greyabbey and District War Memorial which is located on the outside wall of Greyabbey Parish Church of Ireland Church (St Saviour’s).