Colin Boyd has submitted the following found in DNW Catalogue for March 2008 which listed the medals and ephemera which had come up for sale. The entry was long, and he has extracted this passage:
"2nd Lt. Blades was born in September 1897 and was working in a bank in Kensington when he joined the Honourable Artillery Company as a private in August 1915. After serving in France he was despatched to Cadet School and returned to France as 2nd.Lt. in the Rifle Brigade in March 1917. He was posted as being wounded and missing on 03/05/1917 and finally confirmed as being killed in action on 22/12/1918. He is commemorated on the Arras Memorial. His family home was at 14, Windermere Street, Gateshead.
When his medals came up for sale at D.N.W in 2008 a great deal of ephemera was also offered. Included in this was a 30,000 word biography written by his sister which includes the following poignant passage regarding his last home leave in early 1917:
"He sought her out in the drawing room, where she was sitting alone in the twilight in front of a glowing fire. He walked around the back of the settee and put his hand on her shoulder. As she clasped it in her own, he said slowly and distinctly 'I know that I won’t come back. I want you to remember me and tell your children about me.' The girl felt a lump rise in her throat and the hot tears well up in her eyes. She knew if she tried to speak she would burst into tears and she must not do that at all costs. She clung to his hand and inclined her head in reply. Her brother waited for a few seconds, and then abruptly strode out of the room. She felt she had somehow failed him in his hour of need and that she ought to have been able to give him some words of comfort, but he had spoken with such grave conviction that no words of hers could have dispelled his gloom".
William Henry Blades is remembered in Gateshead on G39.051
