Selected Biographies

Codling, Edward Walter – Born: Addington, Surrey on 22.1.1877.  Parents: Edward Codling (Blacksmith) and Mary Ann [née Haywood].  Family Connections: Father of Leonard Codling [b1896]; also, brother to Frederick Stewart Codling [b1884] and Lionel Codling [b1886], and father-in-law of Hubert Roy Barnes [b1898] and Fred Sansum [b1902].  Home: 11 Willis Road, Croydon, Surrey [1884], St Marys Street, Long Melford (1891), Chapel Green, Long Melford (1901), Hall Street, Long Melford (1911).  Occupation: Blacksmith (1891), Machinist in Factory (1901), Power Loom Engineer at List and Son, Horsehair Factory [1916].  Married: Beatrice Elizabeth Boreham of Long Melford in 1900.  Service Record: At the Melford Military Service Tribunal in June 1916 Edward’s employer List and Son applied for his exemption, which was granted on the condition his situation remained unchanged, although this was challenged on appeal by the military representative.  The Tribunal in January 1917 was informed that the appeal had been refused.  The pressure on Lists to release the man was strong, requiring them to appear again in December, this time offering up another man in Codling’s place.  This proved unacceptable to the Tribunal and further exemption from conscription was refused.  In October 1918 the National Service Representative sought to have Codling’s certificate of exemption revoked by the East Suffolk Appeals Tribunal, this failed and at the next sitting of the Melford Tribunal an exemption for a further six months agreed.  It is not known if he was actually conscripted at the end of the six months, although this would seem unlikely as the Armistice came into force barely a month after his certificate of exemption had been issued.  Died: Colchester, Essex in 1970.[1]

Codling, Frederick Stewart – Born: Croydon, Surrey on 22.9.1884.  Parents: Edward Codling (Blacksmith) and Mary Ann [née Haywood].  Family Connections: Brother to Edward Walter Codling [b1877] and Lionel Codling [b1886]; also, brother-in-law of Albert Whittle [b1875] and uncle of Leonard Codling [b1897].  Home: 11 Willis Road, Croydon, Surrey [1884], St Marys Street/Little St Marys, Long Melford (1891 and 1901), 33 New Street, Sudbury, Suffolk (1911), Key Cottage, Long Melford [1915], 3 St Catherines Road, Long Melford [1919] to (1939).  Occupation: Tailor for William Parsonson of 1 Market Hill, Sudbury, Suffolk [1905 to 1915], Tailor’s General Hand (1939).  Married: Emily Elizabeth Whittle of Long Melford in 1907.  Service Record: Frederick attested on 13.1.1915 as Spr.62282 with 107^th Field Company, Royal Engineers, posted to France from 20.9.1915 as part of 26^th Division, then sent to Salonika in 1917.  While serving in Salonika he contracted malaria on 28.9.1918, severe enough to be shipped home to England in December 1918 and to be discharged three months later.  Died: Sudbury, Suffolk in 1951.[2]

Codling, Leonard – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 5.9.1896.  Parents: Edward Walter Codling (Machinist) [see above record] and Beatrice Elizabeth [née Boreham].  Family Connections: Brother-in-law of Hubert Roy Barnes [b1898] and Fred Sansum [b1902]; also, nephew of Frederick Stewart Codling [b1884] and Lionel Codling [b1886].  Home: Chapel Green, Long Melford (1901), Hall Street, Long Melford (1911), The Laurels, St Catherines Road, Long Melford [1919].  Occupation: Printing Apprentice (1911).  Service Record: Leonard attested in February 1915 as Pte.2989 with 1/5^th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment, posted on 10.8.1915 to Suvla Bay, Gallipoli as part of 163^rd Brigade, 54^th [East Anglian] Division.  Evacuated with the battalion on 6.12.1915 from Anzac Cove to Egypt.  In 1917 he was given a new number as Pte.240830 and was probably still serving with his battalion when it took part in the invasion of Palestine.  Died: Military Hospital, Orsett, Essex on 7.7.1919 and buried at Holy Trinity Church, Long Melford on 12.7.1919 where he is also commemorated on the War Memorial.[3]

Codling, Lionel – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 1.9.1886.  Parents: Edward Codling (Blacksmith) and Mary Ann [née Haywood].  Family Connections: Brother to Edward Codling [b1877] and Frederick Stewart Codling [b1884]; also, uncle of Leonard Codling [b1897].  Home: St Marys Street, Long Melford (1891 to 1939).  Occupation: Blacksmith (1911 to 1939).  Service Record: At the Melford Military Service Tribunal in March 1916 Edward Codling, blacksmith, and shoeing smith, applied for military exemption for his son.  He claimed it was a certified occupation and he ‘could not shoe horses or make shoes without his son and could not get help’.  Exemption was granted for three months so that the business might make necessary arrangements for the son’s conscription.  At the Tribunal hearing in June any further exemption was refused.  The case was taken by his father to the West Suffolk Appeals Tribunal in Bury St Edmunds, which was to prove unsuccessful based on the reasoning that Melford had three other blacksmiths.  On 10.8.1916 Lionel was attested as Aircraft Mechanic N^o. F19014 with the Royal Naval Air Service, where he worked as a blacksmith.  He was awarded the Royal Naval Medal and transferred as N^o. 219014 to the Royal Air Force on 1.4.1918.  Died: Sudbury, Suffolk in 1941.[4]

Codling, Thomas Edward – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 21.9.1913.  Parents: Frederick Stewart Codling (Tailor) [see details above] and Emily Elizabeth [née Whittle] of Long Melford.  Family Connections: Nephew of Edward Walter Codling [b1877] and Lionel Codling [b1886], also cousin of Leonard Codling [b1897].  Home: 3 St Catherines Road, Long Melford [1916] to (1939), 61 East Street, Sudbury, Suffolk [1940].  Occupation: Brewer’s Packer (1939).  Married: Marjorie V. Smith in 1940.  Service Record: Thomas enlisted as Pte.5832534 with 1^st Battalion, Cambridgeshire Regiment, Suffolk Regiment.  He was posted to the Far East and was part of the garrison of Sime Road Camp in Singapore, which put up a stalwart defence before being ordered to surrender to the Imperial Japanese Army on 15.2.1942.  As a prisoner of war, he was subjected to slave labour on the Siam-Burma Railway.  Private Codling was one of 780 British servicemen who were killed or died as prisoners of the Japanese.  Died: from acute entiritis whilst in captivity at Camp Malai 1 on 6.6.1943 and buried in Kanchanaburi War Cemetery [grave ref: 2.M.9.], Thailand and commemorated on the Long Melford War Memorial.[5]

Notes – [1] Date of birth from Baptism Register 4.3.1877, St Marys Church, Addington, Surrey.  For the Tribunal’s rulings see Suffolk and Essex Free Press 28.6.1916, 10.1.1917, 5. 12.1917 and 9.10.1918.  [2] Date of birth from Baptism Register 7.12.1884, St Michael and All Angels Church, Croydon, Surrey.  See also his Soldiers’ Documents, First World War ‘Burnt Documents’ [WO 363], Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914-1918 [WO 329], and Service Medal and Award Rolls Index Cards 1914-1922 [WO 372].  [3] Date of birth from Admission Register 10.9.1900, St Catherines Infants School, Long Melford.  See the entry for Bertie John Allen [b1886] for an account of the Suffolk’s first days after stepping ashore in Gallipoli.  For details of 1/5^th Suffolk’s contribution to the campaigns in Gallipoli and Palestine see War Diaries [WO 95/4325] and [WO 95/4658].  For a complete history of the Battalion see Capt. A. Fair [mc] and Capt. E. D. Wolton [compiled by] “The Suffolk Regiment”: the history of the 1/5^th Battalion [London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1923], pp.13-107.  See also his Commonwealth War Graves Commission record, British Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects, 1901-1929 file [ref: 866410], Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914-1918 [WO 329] and Service Medal and Award Rolls Index Cards 1914-1922 [WO 372].  Burial Register Holy Trinity Church, Long Melford.  [4] Date of birth from Royal Navy Registers of Seaman’s Services [ADM 188/598/19014].  For the Tribunal’s rulings see Suffolk and Essex Free Press 6.3.1916 7.6.1916 and 19.7.1916.  See also his RAF Muster Roll.  [5] Date of birth taken from the 1939 Register.  Cause of death from Casualties and Missing Personnel 1939-1945 [WO 361], see also Japanese Index Cards of Allied POWs 1942-1947 [WO 345] and Commonwealth War Graves Commission.