Finding out about Maj Bill Padget, Worcester Regiment

[jameskearney2003]

Hi,

I am trying to find out about Maj William Padget, Worcester Regiment. He was an RSM after WW2, he served in the Worcester Regiment during WW2. His service number is either 5249762 or 656340. His sep daughter wants to know more about him, as she is not a 'blood' relative the War records Dept won't help. Any help would be great.

Jim Kearney

[scully]

Hi Jim,

William Paget (5249762) Regimental Sergeant Major (Warrant Officer Class 1) of the 7th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment was commissioned as an officer on the 12th May 1955 with the rank of Lieutenant (Quartermaster) and his new army number was changed to 442672. Promoted to Captain (Quartermaster) on the 17th January 1958 and to Major (Quartermaster) on the 17th January 1964. Retired on retired pay on the 13th August 1958.

Below is a copy of an extract from the Worcestershire Regiment Magazine (October 1958) about his retirement which also gives details of his army service:

MAJOR W. PAGET
"Bill" Paget retired from the Regiment and the Army on 12th August, 1965, after thirty-two years' service. He enlisted into the Worcestershire Regiment at Norton Barracks on "The Glorious First of June," 1933, and on completion of his Recruits' training he was posted to the 1st Battalion at Crown Hill Barracks, Plymouth, to the, then, "D" (MG) Company. In 1935 he left with the 1st Battalion Worcestershire Regiment from Plymouth for Ramillies Barracks, Aldershot. In 1937 he was drafted to the 2nd Battalion Worcestershire Regiment which he joined at Sialkot, India—now again very much in the news—where he took part in the 2nd Battalion's tour of duty on the North West Frontier. He was (Corporal) Education Instructor in the Regimental School. He was promoted Sergeant in 1939, Company Sergeant-Major in 1940 when he was detailed as a member of the staff at the Italian Prisoner of War Camp at Bhopal, India. In 1941 he returned to the United Kingdom and was posted to the Regimental Depot (Worcestershire Regiment) and later the same year he was posted to the Primary Training Centre, Gravesend, Kent, then commanded by Lieut.-Colonel L. G. H. Bryant, subsequently moving with this unit to Ayrshire and Edinburgh. From 1944 to 1946 he served first with the I.T.C. (Infantry Training Company) in Northern Ireland, and then with the West Midlands I.T.C. (Infantry Training Company) at Oswestry, Shropshire. In 1947 he joined the 7th Battalion (T.A.) Worcestershire Regiment as PSI for Evesham and Pershore. In December 1947, he was posted to "C" Company, 1st Battalion Worcestershire Regiment, then in Berlin, and he moved with the 1st Battalion to Goettingen, B.A.O.R., (British Army of the Rhine) in 1946. In May 1950, he went with the 1st Battalion Worcestershire Regiment to Malaya, now as Company Sergeant-Major of "C" Company, at Batu Anam, Johore. In May 1951, he left the 1st Battalion Worcestershire Regiment to assume the appointment of Regimental Sergeant-Major to the 7th Battalion (T.A.) Worcestershire Regiment and the last parade in which he took part as a W.O. 1 (Warrant Officer Class 1) was the occasion of the Presentation of New Colours to the 7th Battalion by Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, at Kidderminster in April 1955. In 1955 he was commissioned as Lieut. (Quartermaster) and relieved Major (QM) Jim Rendell at the Regimental Depot, followed by his return to the 7th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment again, in 1958, as Quartermaster, which appointment he held for the next four years. In 1962 he was posted to the 11th Battalion, King's African Rifles, in Kenya, as M.T.O. (Motor Transport Officer), with which Battalion he continued to serve until Kenya was granted Independence on 12th December 1964. On again returning to the United Kingdom he was once more posted to the 1st Battalion Worcestershire Regiment, then at Lydd, Kent, as Quartermaster, which appointment he was holding up to retiring on 12th August 1965, to complete thirty-two years' service with the Regiment.
Bill Paget has now assumed the appointment of Quartermaster to the Territorial Association at 16 Silver Street, Worcester.
We wish Major and Mrs. Paget the best of good fortune in their retirement and are pleased to know that he has now joined the increasing number of retired officers of the Regiment who now live in and around Worcester.

Hope the above is of some help.

Regards,

Louis (webmaster)