William Fuller was born in Newbridge, Carmarthenshire on 24th March 1884. The family moved to Swansea when William was about four years old. He attended Rutland Street School and because of his reluctance to receive an education, the Swansea Truant School.

In 1902 Fuller joined the British Army and served in South Africa during the Boer War. He spent several years in India before leaving the army. As a reservist, he was recalled on the outbreak of the First World War and went to France with British Expeditionary Force in August 1914.

Fuller took part in the Battle of Mons. He was also part of an advance party led by Captain Mark Haggard, that came under fire from a German machine-gun post. Attempts to capture Maxim Gun resulted in Haggard being badly wounded. Fuller, at great risk to himself, carried Haggard until out of reach of the German guns. Fuller managed to get Haggard to a dressing station but he died the next day. Fuller's act of bravery resulted in him becoming the first Welshman in the First World War to win the Victoria Cross.

A few weeks later Fuller was shot in the neck at the Battle of Gheluvelt. Fuller was returned to England and was treated at Manchester Hospital. It was only after another operation at Swansea Hospital that the bullet was found. Fuller was judged to me unfit for military service and was invalided out of the British Army.

Fuller sold fish from a horse-drawn cart after leaving the army and became a well-known figure in Swansea. In 1938 he won the Royal Humane Society Medal for Lifesaving after rescuing two boys who had fallen into the sea.

In the Second World War Fuller served as an air-raid warden in Swansea. William Fuller died on 29th December 1974.