Name
William Edward Tomlin
1887
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
15/11/1914
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
8439
Bedfordshire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star (with Clasp & Roses), British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
WIMEREUX COMMUNAL CEMETERY
I. B. 5A.
France
Headstone Inscription
No Report
UK & Other Memorials
Berkhamsted Town Memorial, St Peter's Church Memorial, Berkhamsted, Not on the Northchurch memorials
Pre War
William Edward Tomlin was born in 1887 in Northchurch, Herts, the son of William Henry and Margaret Tomlin (nee Cassidy).
On the 1891 Census, the family were living at Bourne End, Bovingdon, Herts where his father was working as a Gardener Domestic. They remained at Bourne End in 1901 at which time 14 year old William was working as a labourer.
He enlisted into the Hertfordshire Militia as Private 5904 on 15 October 1904 and on 23 January 1906 he transferred to Bedfordshire Regiment as Private 8439.
In 1913 he married Daisy Ann Draper and they had a son Leslie William Edward in 1914.
His parents later lived at 49a Ellesmere Road, Berkhamsted.
Wartime Service
William was a serving soldier at the outbreak of war with the 1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment which was based in Mullingar, Ireland. They sailed from Belfast on the SS Orononsa and arrived at Le Havre, France on 16 August 1914.
The 1st Beds were soon in action in the Battle of Mons and the Retreat, the Battles of Le Cateau, Marne, Aisne, Le Bassee, and Armentiers.
During the period 7-15 November 1914 they were in action at the First Battle of Ypres, and were repelling attacks by the enemy when they were in trenches near Sanctuary Wood, Hooge. William was wounded in this period and died from his wounds in No 14 General Hospital, Wimereux on 15 November 1915. He is buried at Wimereux Communal Cemetery, France.
Additional Information
His widow received a war gratuity of £5 and pay arrears of £3. She also received a pension of 15 shillings a week for herself and her child. She later remarried to William Ross in Berkhampstead in 1919. Brother to Harry Tomlin who served with the 2nd Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment and died on 22 March 1918.
Acknowledgments
Neil Cooper, Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.dacorumheritage.org.uk/first-world-war-database, www.bedfordregiment.org.uk.
