Name
Elphinstone Chamberlain
1897
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
02/12/1918
21
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
400821
Essex Regiment
10th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
BELGRADE CEMETERY
I. C. 2
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
IN GOD'S KEEPING
UK & Other Memorials
Letchworth Town Memorial, Central Methodist Church Memorial, Letchworth
Pre War
Son of Clement and Cecilia Chamberlain, of 54, Gernon Rd., Letchworth, Herts. Born at Birmingham.
Elphinstone Chamberlain wasborn in Aston, Birmingham in 1897 to Clement Chamberlain, a tailor, and Cecilia Waldon (nee Hagger).
On the 1901 Census the family of parents, Harold (born 1892), Dora Cecilia (born 1894), Elphinstone, Lilian Frances (born 1901) were living at 131, Cheapside, Aston.
On the 1911 Census the family of parents, Harold, Dora, Mabel (tailoress, born 1896), Elphinstone, Lilian, Clement (born 1905) and Ernest (born 1906) were living at 61, Auckland Road, Birmingham. Elphinstone was employed by the Phoenix Motor Company.
Wartime Service
Elphinstone enlisted in the Essex Regiment as a Territorial Soldier in 1914. His Serial Number of 400821 seems to due to the Territorial Force renumbering in 1917. After training he joined 10th (Service) Battalion, part of 53 Brigade, 18th (Eastern) Division and landed in Boulogne, France on 26 Jun 1915 and taking part Battles of the Somme in 1916, Arras and 3rd Ypres (Passchendaele) in 1917 and in 1918 Battles of the German Spring Offensive, Second Battles of the Somme, the Battles of the Hindenburg Line, and the Final Advance in Artois. Elpinstone survived to the Armistice but was taken ill and died (although some records say ‘of wounds’), at Namur, Belgium on 2 Dec 1918.
Additional Information
War Gratuity of £12 and arrears of £10 6s 8d was paid to his mother. Brother Harold enlisted in the Bedfordshire Regiment in 1913, (Ser num 10259) and Labour Corps (241155) surviving the Great War.
The service records of Harolds have been filed as Elphinstones’s. The following was produced by an earlier researcher but has not been confirmed : “Joined at outbreak of war. Formerly 10th Essex. Elphinstone on leave with brother July 1917 before leaving for the 'east'. Wounded 27th September and died of wounds (fractured right arm) at Namur hospital, Missing in action 21/9/1918. ‘Good News' article, November 1918, Wounded & Prisoner, sent a postcard home. Lots of letters."
Acknowledgments
Neil Cooper
Dan Hill, Louise Fryer, Jonty Wild
