William Brooks, the son of a seaman in the Merchant Navy, was born in London in 1898. After leaving school he worked at the Woolwich Aresnal where he was apprentices as an iron and steel moulder.

After coming under pressure from members of the Order of the White Feather, Brooks joined the British Army in 1915. A member of the Royal Engineers, Brooks was sent to France in January, 1917, to help build a broad-gauge railway.

(1) William Brooks was interviewed about his experiences during the First World War in 1993. He explained why he joined the British Army in 1915.
Once war broke out the situation at home became awful, because people did not like to see men or lads of army age walking about in civilian clothing, or not in uniform of some sort, especially in a military town like Woolwich. Women were the worst. They would come up to you in the street and give you a white feather, or stick it in the lapel of your coat. A white feather is the sign of cowardice, so they meant you were a coward and that you should be in the army doing your bit for king and country.

It got so bad it wasn't safe to go out. So in 1915 at the age of seventeen I volunteered under the Lord Derby scheme. Now that was a thing where once you applied to join you were not called up at once, but were given a blue armband with a red crown to wear. This told people that you were waiting to be called up, and that kept you safe, or fairly safe, because if you were seen to be wearing it for too long the abuse in the street would soon start again.