SAPPER WILLIAM ROBERT NELSON
ROYAL ENGINEERS
14TH JULY 1917 AGE 38
BURIED: YPRES TOWN CEMETERY EXTENSION, BELGIUM
A letter from the King accompanied every memorial plaque sent out to the next-of-kin of the dead. Under the royal coat of arms and the address, Buckingham Palace, the letter read:
I join with my grateful people in sending you this memorial of a brave life given for others in the Great War.
The letter was then signed with a facsimile signature of George R.I.
Sapper Nelson's family would have received one of these plaques, perhaps it inspired the inscription composed by his wife, Maggie, and the children Tillie and Sam.