Many claims have been put forth as being the model for "Old Bill" but the most likely appears to be Thomas Henry Rafferty, a lance corporal from Birmingham in Bairnsfather's regiment, the Royal Warwickshires, who was killed in the same action that invalided Bairnsfather in April 1915. Rafferty was featured in the "Weekly Dispatch" in 1917, referred to as "Old Bill," along with a photograph taken by Bairnsfather.