Selected Biographies

Ardley, Arthur Oliver – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk in 1870.  Parents: Thomas Ardley (Corn Merchant and Farmer) and Ellen [née Barker].  Family Connections: Father to Richard Arthur Blythe Ardley [b1905], also, cousin of Thomas Barker Ardley [b1896] and Edward Ardley [b1899].  Home: Hall Street, Long Melford (1871), Grammar School, High Street, Halstead, Essex (1881), Westlands, Billericay Road, Mountnessing, Essex (1901), Drurys, Mountnessing (1911), Little Priors, West Bergholt, Essex [1927 to 1958].[1]  Occupation: Insurance Agent (1911), Insurance Manager [1937].  Married: Annie Alice Blyth in 1901.  Service Record: No definitive military record found.  Died: Colchester, Essex in 1958.

Ardley, Edward ‘Ted’ – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 13.2.1899.[2]  Parents: Thomas Barker Ardley (Corn and Coal Merchant and Maltster) and Kate Ellen [née Smith].  Family Connections: Brother to Thomas Barker Ardley [b1896], also, cousin of Arthur Oliver Ardley [b1870], uncle of Richard Arthur Blythe Ardley [b1905], and brother-in-law of Lionel Alexander Schűtte [b1890], Oswald Kynaston Griffin [b1895], and Reginald George Coleman [b1896].  Home: Little St Marys, Long Melford (1901), Hall Street, Long Melford (1911), being cared for by his sister Josephine at Rose Cottage, High Street, Long Melford (1939).  Occupation: Incapacitated (1939).  Service Record: Although no definitive military record has been found, Edward may have enlisted as Rfn.305404 with 5^th [City of London] Battalion, [London Rifle Brigade], London Regiment.  If this assumption is correct then he was posted to France as part of 169^th Brigade, 56^th [1/1^st London] Division, seeing action during the Battles of the Somme in 1916.  In 1919 he was transferred as Pte.T/44433 to the Horse Transport section of the Army Service Corps.  Notwithstanding this speculation Ted is remembered as suffering from the effects of mustard gas poisoning and shell shock, spending the rest of his life being unable to communicate in anything other than grunts and movements of the eyes.[3]  Died: Ipswich, Suffolk in 1996.

Ardley, Richard Arthur Blythe – Born: Brentwood, Essex in 1905.  Parents: Arthur Oliver Ardley (Insurance Agent) of Long Melford and Annie Alice [née Blythe].  Family Connections: Nephew of Thomas Barker Ardley [b1896] and Edward Ardley [b1899].  Home: Drurys, Mountnessing, Essex (1911), St Clare Road, Colchester, Essex [1942].  Occupation: Certified Wireless Watcher [1921].[4]  Married: Margaret Phoebe Daniell in 1932.  Service Record: Richard was a Lieutenant Commander in the Royal Navy Reserve from 1932, and a recipient of The Polar Medal.  He was a member of ‘L’ Detachment Special Air Service and was badly injured when his jeep hit a mine near Benghazi in Libya.  Died: He was taken aboard HMS Stag and died of his wounds the following day on 12.9.1942.  He is commemorated on the Chatham Naval Memorial [Panel 84].[5]

Ardley, Thomas Barker – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 26.1.1896.[6]  Parents: Thomas Barker Ardley (Corn and Coal Merchant and Maltster) and Kate Ellen [née Smith].  Family Connections: Brother to Edward Ardley [b1899], also, cousin of Arthur Oliver Ardley [b1870], uncle of Richard Arthur Blythe Ardley [b1905], and brother-in-law of Lionel Alexander Schűtte [b1890], Oswald Kynaston Griffin [b1895], and Reginald George Coleman [b1896].  Home: Little St Marys, Long Melford (1901), St Margarets School, Merry Hill Lane, Bushey, Hertfordshire (1911), 392 Devon Mansions, Bermondsey, London (1939), 4 Broomloan House, Broomloan Lane, Sutton, Surrey [1945 ER], 62^a High Street, Ilford, Essex [1963].  Occupation: Wholesale Textile Salesman (1939).  Married: Doris Stephens in 1930.  Service Record: Thomas was attested as Pte.597 with the Royal Army Medical Corps and posted to France from 1.8.1915, being discharged in March 1919.[7]  Died: Colchester, Essex in 1977.

Related Biographies

Coleman, Reginald George – Born: Wonersh, Guildford, Surrey on 8.10.1896.[8]  Parents: Albert George Coleman (Printer and Compositor) and Lucy Marion [née Pearce].  Family Connections: Brother-in-law of Thomas Barker Ardley [b1896] and Edward Ardley [b1899] both of Long Melford.  Home: Grocers Shop, Wonersh, Guildford, Surrey (1901 to 1911), 32 St James Road, Bermondsey, London (1921), 69 Gainsford Street, Bermondsey [1935], 5 Tredown Road, Lewisham, London (1939), Brizlee, Birtley Road, Guildford [1945].  Occupation: Hall Boy (1911), Clerk for Courage Brewery (1921), Brewery Inspector (1939).  Married: Winifred Christine Barker Ardley of Long Melford in 1925.  Service Record: Reginald was conscripted on 29.2.1916 as Pte.G/7934 with 1st Battalion, The Queen’s [Royal West Surrey] Regiment.  He was posted to the Western Front as part of 100th Brigade, 33rd Division and saw action during the Battles of the Somme in 1916 and at Ypres in 1917 where he may have been wounded.  He was later transferred to 3rd [Reserve] Battalion Queen’s in England, issued with a Silver War Badge and discharged on 10.4.1918 as ‘no longer physically fit for war service’.  Died: King George V Hospital, Hambledon, Surrey on 21.12.1963.

Griffin, Oswald Kynaston – Born: Peckham, London on 12.6.1895.[9]  Parents: William John Griffin (Merchant’s Manager) and Florence Louise [née Warwick].  Family Connections: Brother-in-law of Thomas Barker Ardley [b1896] and Edward Ardley [b1899], both of Long Melford.  Home: 273 Friern Road, Camberwell, London (1901), 48 Pretoria Road, Streatham, London (1911), Furzedown, The Roundway, Anlaby Park, Hull, Yorkshire [1925], 31 Moor Lane, Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire (1939), 74^A Winchester Road, Andover, Hampshire [1975].  Married: Violet May Ardley of Long Melford in 1922[10] and Gwendolyne Goodall in 1931.  Service Record: Oswald enlisted on 20.3.1915 as Tpr.1810 with 1/1^st Surrey Yeomanry [Queen Mary’s Regiment], posted with to Egypt on 1.4.1915 and sent immediately to the Greek island of Imbros during the Gallipoli Campaign.  In 1916 he transferred to the Western Front where his unit was placed under the command of XV Corps Cavalry Regiment on the Somme.  On 20.9.1916 Griffin was commissioned as a Lieutenant with 19^th [Service] Battalion, The Queen’s [Royal West Surrey] Regiment until the end of hostilities.  After the War he was commissioned as a Royal Air Force Flying Officer in 1921, promoted to Flight Lieutenant in 1925 and to Wing Commander in 1939.[11]  Died: Andover, Hampshire on 23.1.1975.

Schűtte, Lionel Alexander – Born: Brixton, London on 15.1.1890.  Parents: Frank William Schűtte (Hotel Waiter) and Elizabeth [née Workman].  Family Connections: Brother-in-law of Thomas Barker Ardley [b1896] and Edward Ardley [b1899] both of Long Melford.  Home: 110 Dallyell Road, Stockwell, London (1891), 21 Claribel Road, Stockwell, London [1895] (1901), 107 Hopton Road, Streatham, London (1911).  Occupation: Bank Clerk (1911).  Married: Constance Sybil Ardley of Long Melford in 1915.  Service Record: Lionel enlisted as Pte.3648 with 1/16^th (County of London) Battalion [Queen’s Westminster Rifles], London Regiment, and was posted to the Western Front on 14.8.1916 as part of 169^th Brigade, 47^th (2^nd London) Division, being promoted to A/Sgt.382602.[12]  Died: On 10.9.1916 during the Somme Offensive, he was listed as missing presumed killed in action and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing, Somme, Picardy, France [Pier and Face 13C].[13]

Notes – [1] Addresses taken from the Electoral Register. [2] Date of birth from the Baptism Register 18.5.1899, St Catherines Mission Church, Long Melford.  The Death Index, and Admission Register 14.3.1904, St Catherines Infants School, Long Melford, record his date of birth as 15.2.1899. [3] Medal Roll [ WO 329] and Medal Index Card [WO 372].  My thanks to Richard Kemp of Long Melford for his eye-witness account of Ted Ardley’s condition. [4] Occupation from the Post Office Service Book [1921-1923]. [5] Military details courtesy of Commonwealth War Grave Commission and www.specialforcesroh.com. [6] Date of birth from the Baptism Register 21.5.1896, St Catherines Mission Church, Long Melford. [7] Medal Roll [ WO 329] and Medal Index Card [WO 372]. [8] 1939 Register. [9] Date of birth from the 1939 Register for Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, and the Death Index. [10] Marriage Register 10.6.1922, Holy Trinity Church, Long Melford. [11] Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914-1918 [WO 329] and Service Medal and Award Rolls Index Cards 1914-1922 [WO 372].  For notification of his commissions see London Gazette 15.3.1921 and 4.4.1939, also found in Flight 9.7.1925. [12] Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914-1918 [WO 329] and Service Medal and Award Rolls Index Cards 1914-1922 [WO 372]. [13] British Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects, 1901-1929 file [ref: 482148] and Commonwealth War Grave Commission register.