Selected Biographies

Pilgrim, Daniel John – Born: Barnet, Hertfordshire on 1.4.1893.[1]  Parents: Job Daniel Pilgrim (Carpenter) and Ellen [née Reid].  Family Connections: Son-in-law of Edgar Borrett of Long Melford [b1872] and brother-in-law of Jack Henry Borrett [b1896].  Home: 35 Moxon Street, Chipping Barnet, Hertfordshire (1901, 1911), 9 Derby Avenue, Finchley, Middlesex [1926], 12 Brent Place, Barnet, Herts (1939) to [1965].[2]  Occupation: Cabinet Maker (1911), Carpenter [1916], Coach Body Builder (1939).  Married: Olga Gwendoline Borrett [d1951] in 1920 and Alice M. Razzell in 1955.  Service Record: Daniel enlisted in 1911 as Pte.1303 with The Duke of Cambridge’s Own (Middlesex Regiment), being posted with 1/7^th Battalion, Middlesex to France in March 1915 as part of 23^rd Brigade, 8^th Division, seeing action at the Battle of Aubers in May of that year.  In January 1916 he was attached to 1/1^st [Home Counties] Field Company, Royal Engineers until his discharge the following April.  Within three months of his discharge from the Army he enlisted as N^o. F18798 with the Royal Naval Air Service, being posted again to France in February 1918.  With the foundation of the Royal Air Force on 1.4.1918 he was transferred as Air Mechanic (Class II) N^o.218798 to N^o.7 Squadron, remaining with this reconnaissance unit until his discharge in 1919.[3]  Died: Hendon, Middlesex in 1981.

Pilgrim, Frederick – Born: Belchamp Walter, Essex on 30.5.1893.[4]  Parents: Charles Pilgrim (Agricultural Labourer) and Elizabeth [née Deal].  Family Connections: Son-in-law of Albert Edward Younger of Long Melford [b1878] and brother-in-law of Ernest Athelstan Gardiner [b1878].  Home: Borley, Essex (1901 and 1911), Westgate Street, Long Melford (1939), 9 Laurel Drive, Long Melford [1983].  Occupation: Stockman (1911), Agricultural Labourer (1939).  Married: Florence Bertha Younger of Long Melford in 1923.  Service Record: Frederick enlisted on 30.9.1914 as Pte.1802 with the Mechanical Transport Section, Army Service Corps, 1/1^st Divisional Supply Column, transferring on 10.5.1915 as Pte. S4/111155 to 257^th [MT] Company, ASC, 19^th Divisional Supply Column.  Frederick was posted to France from 14.7.1915 to 27.8.1918, seeing action during the Somme Offensive of 1916, the Third Battles of Ypres in 1917, and in 1918 at the Battles of St Quentin, Bapaume, and the Lys.  He received his discharge in June 1919.[5]  During the Second World War he was a member of the Local Defence Volunteers in Long Melford, being part of ‘H’ Company, 10^th Battalion, Suffolk Home Guard when it was formed in August 1942.  His name is recorded in the official tribute to the organization entitled The Lion Roared his Defiance, photographed in and around Long Melford in 1944.[6]  Died: Long Melford, Suffolk on 2.1.1983.[7]

Pilgrim, Frederick Markham – Born: Sudbury, Suffolk on 15.2.1880.[8]  Parents: Althea Pilgrim of Belchamp, Essex (Mat Maker).  Family Connections: Brother to James Pilgrim [b1887] and Horace Pilgrim [b1890]; also, cousin of Horace Pilgrim né Newman [b1909] and James Pilgrim [b1917].  Home: Ballingdon Street, Sudbury, Suffolk (1881), 9 Mill Lane, Sudbury (1891), Cross Street, Sudbury, Suffolk (1901) to [1919], 44 Westerham Road, Leyton, Essex [1941].  Occupation: Bricklayer’s Labourer (1901).  Married: Beatrice Coral Julia Witt in 1906.  Service Record: Frederick enlisted as Gnr. SR/2971 with the Royal Garrison Artillery, being posted to France on 31.12.1915.  He was later renumbered as Gnr.277971, receiving his discharge in August 1919.[9]  Died: Leyton, Essex on 26.12.1941.[10]

Pilgrim, Horace – Born: Sudbury, Suffolk on 15.2.1890.[11]  Parents: Althea Pilgrim of Belchamp, Essex (Mat Maker).  Family Connections: Brother to Frederick Markham Pilgrim [b1880] and James Pilgrim [b1887]; also, cousin of Horace Pilgrim né Newman [b1909] and James Pilgrim [b1917].  Home: 9 Mill Lane, Sudbury, Suffolk (1891), 24 Mill Lane, Sudbury [1914], 74 Cross Street, Sudbury, Suffolk (1921), 1 Bridge Foot, Cross Street, Sudbury (1939).  Occupation: Labourer [1909] to (1921), Agricultural Labourer (1939).  Married: Ellen ‘Nellie’ Potter in 1928.  Service Record: In 1908 Horace was a member of ‘D’ Company, 5^th Battalion, [Territorial], Suffolk Regiment.  He enlisted in 1909 as Pte.10144 with 3^rd Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment, being mobilized on 5.8.1914.  Pilgrim was posted to France from 9.11.1914 to 2.1.1916 as Pte.31834 with 1^st Battalion, Leicester’s as part of 16^th Brigade, 6^th Division.  He received his discharge on his return to England.[12]

Pilgrim né Newman, Horace – Born: Barking, Essex on 17.10.1909.[13]  Parents: Horace Pilgrim of Belchamp Water, Essex (Labourer) and Maud Flora [née Newman].  Family Connections: Brother to James Pilgrim [b1917]; also, cousin of Frederick Markham Pilgrim [b1880], James Pilgrim [b1887] and Horace Pilgrim [b1890].  Home: 3 Lindsells Court, Heath Street, Barking, Essex (1911), 34 Mill Lane, Sudbury, Suffolk (1921 to 1939).  Occupation: General Labourer (1939).  Married: Jessie Maria Hayward in 1919.  Service Record: Horace enlisted in 1927 as Gnr.773453 with the Royal Artillery, transferring in January 1928 to the Northamptonshire Regiment.[14]  It is not known if he served in the forces during the Second World War.  Died: Deben, Suffolk in 1974.

Pilgrim, James – Born: Sudbury, Suffolk in 1887.  Parents: Althea Pilgrim of Belchamp, Essex (Mat Maker).  Family Connections: Brother to Frederick Markham Pilgrim [b1880] and Horace Pilgrim [b1890]; also, cousin of Horace Pilgrim né Newman [b1909] and James Pilgrim [b1917].  Home: 9 Mill Lane, Sudbury, Suffolk (1891), 11 Cross Street, Sudbury (1901).  Occupation: Labourer [1904 to 1906].  Service Record: James enlisted in 1904 as Pte.6376 with 3^rd [Militia] Battalion, Suffolk Regiment.  In 1906 he joined the Regular Army as Pte.7463 with 1^st Battalion, Suffolks.  He was posted to Malta from 1907 to 1911, then to Egypt where contracted tuberculosis, returning to England in January 1914.[15]  Died: Sudbury, Suffolk in 1919.

Pilgrim, James – Born: Colchester, Essex on 30.1.1917.[16]   Parents: Horace Pilgrim of Belchamp Water, Essex (Labourer) and Maud Flora [née Newman].  Family Connections: Brother to Horace Pilgrim né Newman [b1909]; also, cousin of Frederick Markham Pilgrim [b1880], James Pilgrim [b1887] and Horace Pilgrim [b1890].  Home: 34 Mill Lane, Sudbury, Suffolk (1921 to 1939).  Occupation: Flour Mill Labourer (1939).  Service Record: James enlisted as Pte.6019037 with 4^th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment.  In October 1941 his unit, as part of 54^th Infantry Brigade, 18^th [East Anglian] Division, was transported by ship to Singapore to bolster the island’s defences.  The Suffolks were moved to Ponggol Point at the north of the Island directly in the path of the advancing enemy where Pilgrim and his comrades suffered the effects of concentrated aerial bombardment.  Retreating southwest to the Bukit Timah Road the men came under a constant attack by mortar fire and strafing from enemy machine-guns.  Their bitter defence was brought to an abrupt halt when the officer commanding the island garrison surrendered to the Imperial Japanese Army.  On 17.2.1942 the men of the Suffolks joined other Allied troops on the parade ground at Raffles College, to formally lay down their arms and place their lives in the hands of their captors.  Three and a half years of brutality, starvation and enforced back-breaking labour constructing the infamous Burma Railway was to follow.[17]  Died: James was one a dozen men from his work camp who died of dysentery, malaria and malnutrition while in Japanese hands on 1.9.1943.  He is buried in Thanbyuzayat War Cemetery [grave ref: B1.B.20] Burma.  A cruel aside to this tragic story is that his mother was only informed of his death in January 1946.[18].

Related Biographies

Gardiner, Ernest Athelstan – Born: Chilton, Suffolk on 3.3.1878.[19]  Parents: William Gardiner (Agricultural Labourer) and Jane [née Farthing].  Family Connections: Brother-in-law of Frederick Pilgrim [b1893].  Home: Cottage near the Church, Chilton, Suffolk (1881), Borley Cottage, Borley, Essex (1891), Hall Road, Borley (1901), Borley Road, Rodbridge, Long Melford (1911), 10 Station Road, Long Melford [1915] to (1939).  Occupation: Agricultural Labourer (1891), Miller’s Carter (1901 to 1911), Agricultural Labourer (1939).  Married: Ada Susan Hickford [d1938] in 1912 and Elizabeth Pilgrim in 1945.  Service Record: Ernest was conscripted on 15.12.1915 as Pte. T/440870 with N^o.3 Reserve Horse Transport Depot, Army Service Corps, receiving his discharge in June 1919.  Died: Borley, Essex 1962.

Notes – [1] Date of birth taken from the 1939 Register for Barnet, Herts. [2] Selected addresses from the Electoral Rolls for Finchley, Middx and Barnet, Herts.  [3] For Daniel’s varied military career see his Soldiers’ Documents, First World War ‘Burnt Documents’ [WO 363], Royal Navy Registers of Seaman’s Services [ADM 188/597/18798] and Air Member for Personnel and predecessors: Airman’s Records [AIR 79/1969]. [4] Date of birth from the 1939 Register for Long Melford and Death Index. [5] For details of 257^th [MT] Company’s movements see War Diary [WO 95/892/1-2].  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]. [6] Published by Marten & Son, Ltd., of Market Hill, Sudbury, Suffolk in 1946.  [7] Date of death from the National Probate Calendar.  [8] Baptism Record of 25.12.1880 for All Saints Church, Sudbury, Suffolk. [9] Pension Record Cards and Ledgers [ref: 11/M/317109], Medal Roll [WO 329], and Medal Index Card [WO 372]. [10] National Probate Calendar. [11] 1939 Register. [12] Soldiers’ Documents and Pension Claims, First World War [WO 364], Medal Roll [WO 329], and Medal Index Card [WO 372]. [13] Date of birth taken from the 1939 Register, however his military record places it a year earlier.  [14] Royal Artillery Attestations 1883-1942. [15] [WO 96] Militia Service Records and [WO 363] Soldiers’ Documents, First World War ‘Burnt Documents’.  [16] 1939 Register. [17] [TNA – WO 345/41]. [18] [WO 361/1624/1] Casualties and Missing Personnel 1939-1945, Commonwealth War Grave Commission record and Suffolk and Essex Free Press 17.1.1946.  [19] 1939 Register.