Name
Eustace Reginald Pheasant
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
Hertfordshire Regiment
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
NA
Pre War
Eustace Reginald Pheasant was born on the 20th August 1894 at Longdon Street, Tring, Hertfordshire, the son of James & Julia Agnes Pheasant. His father worked as an Insurance Agent. Records show that Eustace attended the Tring New Mill Infant, Junior & Middle School.
By 1911 the Pheasant family were living at 28 Wingrave Road, Tring, and Eustace, now aged 16, was working as a Grocers Assistant in the town. His brother, Howard (13) and his sister, Ena (5), were still at school.
Wartime Service
Note: a more comprehensive biography for Eustace appears in our Archives see: Archives Hertfordshire Men & Women - Individuals Stories Eustace Reginald Pheasant - biography (Survivor).
On the 1st January 1915 Eustace joined the Territorial Army, enlisting in the Hertfordshire Regiment where he was issued with the Regimental Number 4438. He would have spent the next six months training, mainly at Halton Camp, Buckinghamshire, which had been offered by Alfred De Rothschild, the estate owner, to Lord Kitchener for military training at the outbreak of World War One. Following his basic training and preparation for overseas service, the big day came on the 17th August 1915, when Eustace left the shores of England to make his way to France. On arrival, he would have been held in an Infantry Base Depot, most likely No.17 at Etaples, close to the French ports where his preparation for service at the front would continue. Replacement troops were often drafted into the line where they were most needed, and this meant that their Regiment may change. Eustace remained with the Hertfordshire Regiment who, on the 30th August, had moved into the Montmorency Barracks, Bethune, having left the Guards Brigade to become part of the 6th Infantry Brigade, 2nd Division, and this is most likely where Eustace joined them.
Eustace was Discharged from the Army 27th September 1918 and was issued with a Silver War Badge numbered B24957. The Silver War Badge was issued in the United Kingdom to service personnel who had been honourably discharged due to wounds or sickness during World War I.
In October 1919 Eustace was presented with the 1915 Star, and in June 1920 he received two other campaign medals, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. Each of these were inscribed with his name, rank and regimental number.
Additional Information
Life after the Great War appears to have been difficult and tragic for Eustace. He met Ada Bradley and on the 23rd June 1924 the couple married. Together, they had three children, Trevor (1925), Raymond (1930) and Beryl Joyce Pamela (1934). The Birmingham Gazette on Friday 16th February 1934, reported how Ada had gone missing on the 31st January, just a couple of weeks after the birth of their daughter and he had fallen asleep, but when he awoke, the baby was on the bed and Ada was missing. Sadly, Ada had chosen to take her own life and was found drowned in the canal close to their home on the 25th February 1934 aged 35, leaving Eustace with two young boys and a baby girl, who was born with some physical difficulties. A little time after Ada’s death, Eustace met Muriel Gill, a woman who was 19 years his junior, and the couple married on the 20th April 1935. With Muriel, Eustace produced another six children. Peter (1936), Eileen (1937), Roger (1939), Margaret (1941), Alan (1942) and Judith (1945). Tragedy also struck Eustace in his new life when Alan died at the age of 6 months on the 30th July 1942. By the outbreak of the Second World War, Eustace was living at 14 Stow Grove, Birmingham, Warwickshire. At this stage in his life he was working as a Blueprint machine operator. In a final tragic episode, Eustace was to lose his first daughter when Beryl died on the 7th January 1950 at the age of 16. Eustace passed away on the 5th August 1956, just two weeks before his 62nd Birthday.
