William died of pneumonia following the rescue of two men off the Central Pier, Blackpool during Wakes Week in July 1929. A newspaper article of the time suggests that his malaria contributed to his death.1
How he came to have malaria is a mystery. Malaria had been eradicated in the UK, but, as a sailor - his father John had been a Blackpool fisherman - he may have been to sea and visited an enfected area.