Stone was born in Ledstone, Devon, as the tenth of fourteen children, and enlisted into the Royal Navy on his 18th birthday.

He had first tried to join up at the age of fifteen, walking three miles from where he was working on a farm, to Kingsbridge, to collect the attestation papers, but his father refused to countersign them.

[2] The first record of his naval service describes him as being 5 feet 5.5 inches (1.664 m) tall, with a 32.5 in (83 cm) chest, brown hair and blue eyes, and his prior occupation as stationary engine driver.

[2] His first position was as a Stoker aboard the battlecruiser HMS Tiger, and by summer 1919 was at the main wartime Royal Navy base at Scapa Flow, here he was a witness to the scuttling of the German fleet.

[2] He remained in the navy after the war, serving on HMS Hood during the 1920s, including a round-the-world "Empire Cruise" showing the flag in British colonies from 1922 to 1924.

The second time was while serving aboard the Fiji-class light cruiser HMS Newfoundland during the Allied invasion of Sicily, when it was torpedoed by the German submarine U-407.

Following the end of the Second World War in 1945, Stone left the Navy and ran his own barber's shop, where he also sold cigarettes and smoking tobacco.

"On my first Sunday at church following her death General Sir John Mogg and his wife, Margaret, who lived in the village, said to me 'William, you are to sit with us now.'

I also try to attend the annual Hood memorial service at Boldre village church, near Lymington, which is usually held around the same time of the year.

Due to his increasing old age, he was forced to leave Watlington,[10] Oxfordshire and move into a retirement facility in Sindlesham, a suburb of Winnersh, which lies between Reading and Wokingham, in 2007.

[11] Stone's son-in-law, Michael Davidson issued a statement about his father-in-law's condition: "He had a fall and developed a small infection, so doctors gave him antibiotics which seem to be working.

He is obviously being observed very closely because of his age, but we have no reason to believe his condition will worsen" On 11 November 2008, Stone along with fellow veterans, Henry Allingham and Harry Patch laid commemorative wreaths at the Cenotaph in London to mark the ninetieth anniversary of the end of the First World War.

[1][13] His daughter described him as a "very determined character [...] a man of great faith and his recipe for long life was: 'Clean living, contented mind and trust in God.'

[1] The Dunkirk and 50th Anniversary Russian commemorative medals are not officially recognised by The Queen[16] and should not be worn on formal occasions.