William Joseph Cant was the son of William Joseph Cant (1875-1909) and Sarah Jane Cant née Lewis (1875-1960). His birth was registered in the 4th quarter of 1908 in the Bedford, Bedfordshire, registration district.
The 1911 census shows him living at 313 Palmers Buildings, Nile Street, Hoxton, with his widowed mother, his widowed maternal grandmother Hephzibah Lewis (1845-1915) and his maternal uncle, John Frederick Lewis (b.1886). His mother's occupation was shown to be an Ostrich Feathers Warehouse Assistant.
Electoral registers from 1931 to 1939 show him listed as Joseph William Cant, together with his mother, still at 313 Palmers Buildings.
He joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, service number 1716088 and gained the rank of Sergeant.
He was attached to No.207 Squadron and on 1 January 1944 he was the Flight Engineer aboard an Avro Lancaster Mk1 bomber aeroplane, serial number W4892, with the code marking EM-T, that took off for a night bombing raid on Germany from RAF Spilsby, Lincolnshire. His aircraft was shot down over Berlin's southern suburbs, crashing near the Daimler-Benz factory in Genshagen and he was killed, aged 35 years, on 2 January 1944.
He and his crew members were initially buried in roadside graves in Ludwigsfeld, a town south of Berlin. On 17 April 1947 their bodies were exhumed and reburied in the Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery, Heerstrasse 151, 14055 Berlin, Germany, and his body is now in Plot 8, Row G, Grave 20.
He is also commemorated on Panel 17 on the Lincolnshire Bomber Command Memorial at the International Bomber Command Centre, Canwick Avenue, Canwick, Lincoln, LN4 2HQ.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
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