Born in Crawley Down about 1894, the son of Edwin and Leonora Dorse Rapley, William’s father was a Domestic Gardener and later a Grocer.

Of the 1st Battalion, The Duke of Cambridge’s Own (Middlesex Regiment), 2nd Lieutenant William Godfrey Rapley was seriously wounded on the battlefield at Passchendaele and died on 25th September 1917. He was buried in St Julien Dressing Station Cemetery.