Name
Daniel (Little Danny) Tomlin
17 January 1889
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
21/11/1916
37
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
29527
Duke of Cambridge’s Own (Middlesex Regiment)
23rd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
VOORMEZEELE ENCLOSURE NO.3
XII. B. 8.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
IN GOD'S KEEPING
UK & Other Memorials
St John the Evangelist Church Memorial, Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial, John Dickinson & Co Memorial, Apsley Mills, Apsley
Pre War
Daniel Tomlin (known as Danny or Little Danny) was born on 17 January 1879 in Boxmoor, nr. Hemel Hempstead, Herts, the son of Frederick and Elizabeth Tomlin and one of 5 children. He was baptised at St John the Evangelist, Boxmoor on 10 September 1979.
On the 1881 Census the family were living at Puller Road, Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead where his father was listed as an Invalid (consumptive) and his mother was a Needle Woman. His father died later that year and by 1891, Daniel was living with his widowed mother and siblings in 18 Cowper Road, Hemel Hempstead.
Danny began his education in March 1885 at Boxmoor School where he successfully completed all seven standards by the time he left on 5 March 1892 at the age of 13. Three years later he started work at John Dickinson & Co Ltd, paper manufacturers.
By 1901 he was the only child at home with his mother and they were living at Horsecroft Road, Boxmoor and he was working as a clerk at John Dickinson & Co. of Apsley Mills. They remained in Boxmoor, living at 73 Horsecroft Road, in 1911 and he was still working for John Dickinson & Co.
By the time of his enlistment, he had been employed for 21 years at John Dickinson & Co in the Stock Department.
Wartime Service
He was given a month's exemption from military service in March 1916 in order to look after his widowed mother but eventually enlisted in Bedford and served with the Duke of Cambridge's Own (Middlesex) Regiment. He was posted to the 23rd (Service) Battalion at Cranleigh, near Aldershot for basic training. The battalion was one of two 'football' battalions as the majority of the recruits came from the ranks of professional footballers.
He went to France at the beginning of May 1916 and saw his first major actions in the Battle of Flers-Courcelette in September and the Battle of Transloy in October. The Battalion then moved to Godewaersvealde on 19 October, from where they marched to Reninghelst, near Ypres.
Danny was one of a wiring party in front of the trenches when he was killed by machine gun fire at Voormezelle on 21 November 1916, aged 37. He is buried at Voormezelle Enclosure No. 3, Belgium.
Additional Information
His mother, Mrs Elizabeth Tomlin, 73 Horsecroft Road, Boxmoor, Herts., ordered his headstone inscription: "IN GOD'S KEEPING". His mother received a war gratuity of £3 and pay owing of £2 8s 10d. She also received a pension of 2s 6d a week. Probate was granted to his mother with effects of £221 4s 2d. (His mother died in 1933, aged 93). Extensive newspaper reports in the Hemel Hempstead Gazette and West Herts Advertiser indicate that Daniel was a gentle and well-liked man both at work and in the neighbourhood of Boxmoor.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
www.dacorumheritage.org.uk, www.hemelatwar.org.,www.hemelheroes.com
