Selected Biographies

Coleman, Reginald George Ÿ Born: Wonersh, Guildford, Surrey in 1896.  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, 1911), 69 Gainsford Street, Bermondsey, London [1935], Brizlee, Birtley Road, Guildford [1945].  Occupation: Hall Boy (1911).  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.

Coleman, Thomas Ÿ Born: Crich, Derbyshire on 12.3.1895.  Parents: Aaron Coleman (Limestone Quarryman) and Elizabeth [née Hambleton].  Home: The Cross, Crich, Derbyshire (1901 and 1911), 16 New Road, Belper, Derbyshire (1939).  Occupation: Limestone Quarryman (1911), Railway Plate Layer (1939).  Married: Laura Louisa Moss of Long Melford in 1916.  Service Record: Thomas enlisted on 20.10.1914 as Pte.330884 with the Sherwood Foresters [Nottingham and Derbyshire Regiment], transferring on 26.2.1915 to 2/5^th Battalion, Sherwood Foresters.  By January 1917 he was serving with 21^st Sherwood Foresters based at Walton-on-the-Naze in Essex.  Thomas served briefly with 25^th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry as Pte.72055, being posted to France from 27.4.1917 to 16.3.1918, transferring within a fortnight of landing as Pte.23528 to 40^th Labour Company, then finally to 501^st Agricultural Company, Labour Corps.  He was issued with a Silver War Badge and discharged due to sickness in 1919.  Died: Belper, Derbyshire on 30.7.1974.[1]

Notes – [1] Date of birth from the 1939 Register for Belper, Derbyshire.  Marriage Register 26.12.1916, Holy Trinity Church, Long Melford.  See also his Soldiers’ Documents, First World War ‘Burnt Documents’ [WO 363], Service Medal and Award Rolls, First World War, Silver War Badge [WO 329] record [ref: B303820], Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914-1918 [WO 329] and Service Medal and Award Rolls Index Cards 1914-1922 [WO 372].  Date of death from the National Probate Calendar.