Name
Bernard John Pullin
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
21/10/1917
29
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lieutenant
Royal Field Artillery
'D' Battery, 291st Brigade
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Military Cross
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
DOZINGHEM MILITARY CEMETERY
IX. C. 23.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Not on the Bushey memorials
Pre War
Born on 27 March 1888, Bernard John Pullin was the youngest son of James Henry and Marion Eugenie (nee Wyatt) Pullin of 7 Amherst Park in Stanford Hill, London. His parents were married in third quarter of 1882 in the Hackney registration district.
At the 1891 Census, Bernard was 3 years old and living with his parents and two older brothers at 1 Fesson Road in Hackney. James is working as a commercial traveller, and he and Marion are 34 and 31 years old respectively. Bernard’s two brothers, Alfred James and Arthur, are 7 and 6 years old and are both at school. The birthplace for James is given as Islington and that for the rest of the family is Hackney.
Bernard and Arthur were educated at a private school in Cambridge and at Mill Hill School in London between 1903 and 1912. He was a prominent swimmer at school and won the Ousey Bowl for swimming. He qualified as an analytic chemist. At the 1901 Census both Arthur and Bernard were boarders with the Gee family in the Parish of St Barnabas in Cambridge.
At the 1911 Census, the family was living at 7 Amhurst Park, a 12-room residence in Stamford Hill. James was then the owner of a Timber Importing business, Alfred was a Timber Importer’s Assistant and Bernard was an Analytical Chemist. Also present were two domestic servants, a housemaid and a cook.
Wartime Service
The service records for Bernard were partially burnt due to bombing in the Second World War. However, they do include some details to complement information obtained from Mill Hill School Roll of Honour and from Ben Jewitt, a member of the Pullin family.
Bernard attested for the Territorial Force in Westminster on 13 November 1914 for 4 years’ service in the UK as Sapper 70044 with the London District Signal Company of the Royal Engineers. His address was 7 Amhurst Park, his height was 5 feet 10½ inches and had a chest girth of 35½ inches with an expansion of 2½ inches. After 53 days, he was discharged from the Territorial Force to join the regular army on 25 December 1914.
He gained a commission in the 4th Home Counties Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery and served in France as Lieutenant in ‘D’ battery of the 291st Brigade. He was killed in action, aged 29, at Passchendaele, Belgium, on 21 October 1917.
The following is an extract from the Mill Hill School Roll of Honour: “He was awarded a posthumous Military Cross for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He was in command of his battery when they were ordered to move forward. He did a most difficult advance over roads that were quagmires and got all his guns into action. His junior officers all became casualties, but he carried out registration and barrage fire single-handed, working unceasingly day and night under constant shell fire, setting a magnificent example of courage and determination to his men.”
Bernard was buried in Dozinghem Military Cemetery, Poperinge, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium. Plot IX Row C Grave 23.
His parents moved to ‘Myoora’, Grange Road, Bushey after the war. His name is not on any Bushey war memorial, but he is commemorated on the family grave in Bushey churchyard.
There is an entry for Bernard in the National Probate Calendar for 1918, which reads: PULLIN Bernard John of 7 Amhurst-park Hackney Middlesex died 21 October 1917 in Flanders Administration London 16 April to James Henry Pullin timber merchant. Effects £2231 0s. 2d.
The children of Bernard’s brother, Arthur Pullin, grew up in Oxhey and went on to serve with distinction in WW2. (John) Anthony Pullin DSC served as a fighter pilot with the Fleet Air Arm before returning to live in Watford, and Joy Olive Pullin (later Salmon) worked as a WREN at Bletchley Park, operating Turing's Bombe machines.
Additional Information
Dianne Payne - www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk, Jonty Wild, Mill Hill School Roll of Honour - millhill.me/atwar.
Acknowledgments
Andrew Palmer
Dianne Payne - www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk, Jonty Wild
