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A village with a big story
Little Holland cottages at top of Green no longer there
train
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Claypits Pond with Horses 1905
Long Melford Coronation fancy dress competition at the British Legion in Cordell road1953
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Shinn

Selected Biography

Shinn, Richard – Born: Nedging Tye, Suffolk in 1893.  Parents: Alfred Shinn (Carter on Farm) and Ellen [née Bannister] [d1898].  Home: Church Walk/Row, Long Melford (1911)[1] to [1918].  Occupation: Agricultural Labourer (1911).  Service Record: Recorded as L/Cpl. G/21849 with 23rd [Service] Battalion, Duke of Cambridge’s Own [Middlesex] Regiment, Richard was posted to France as part of 123rd Brigade, 41st Division.  On 29.9.1918 his battalion was part of a brigade wide pre-dawn assault on German positions seven miles south-east of Ypres.  The attack was considered a great success, inflicting heavy losses on the enemy, and resulting in the capture of hundreds of prisoners.[2]  Died: It was during this action however, that Lance Corporal Shinn was listed as missing presumed killed in action.  He is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing [panel 113 to 115], West-Vlaanderen, Belgium and on the Long Melford War Memorial.[3]

Related Biographies

Byham, Harold Victor – Born: Sudbury, Suffolk in 1918.  Parents: Stanley Herbert Byham (Dairy Farmer) and Florence May [née Filer].  Home: 43 Newmans Road, Sudbury, Suffolk (1921).  Married: Lily May Shinn of Glemsford, Suffolk [d1974] in 1940 and Vera V. Kendall née Raison in 1975.  Service Record: Harold enlisted in 1933 as Gnr.834867 with the Royal Artillery.  During the Second World War he rose to the rank of Bombardier and was Mentioned in Dispatches in 1945 for his contribution in the Italian Campaign the previous year.  In October 1945 he was transferred to ‘W’ [Territorial] Reserve.[4]  Died: Sudbury, Suffolk in 1990.

Hardy, Percy – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 3.8.1897.[5]  Parents: Henry Hardy (Coconut Mat Maker) and Ellen [née Leeks] (Horsehair Weaver).  Family Connections: Brother to William Harry Hardy [b1889].  Home: Westgate Street, Long Melford (1901 and 1911).  Married: Laura Ethel Salter, formally Thompson née Shinn.  Service Record: Percy attested as Pte.34450 with 2nd Battalion, Suffolk Regiment, transferring to 8th [Service] Battalion, then 11th [Service] Battalion, Suffolks.  He was wounded twice in 1917, however it is not recorded with which unit he was serving, and when and where he was stationed at the time of his injuries.[6]  All three battalions saw action during the Arras Offensive and the Third Battles of Ypres in 1917.[7]  Died: Sudbury, Suffolk in 1986.

Thompson, Percy Walter – Born: Glemsford, Suffolk on 7.4.1888.[8]  Parents: Charles Thompson of Cavendish, Suffolk (Shoemaker) and Gilly Elizabeth [née Albon].  Home: Hall Street, Long Melford (1891), The Green, Long Melford (1901), Cock and Bell Lane, Long Melford (1911), Hall Street, Long Melford [1924].  Occupation: Blacksmith (1911) to [1917].  Married: Laura Ethel Shinn in 1914.  Service Record: At the Melford Military Service Tribunal in June 1916 David Ward, Percy’s employer applied for his exemption, which was granted on the condition his situation remained unchanged.  In August 1917 the military representative applied for a revision of the original certificate, which was granted on appeal.[9]  He was conscripted shortly after Gnr.180215 with the Royal Garrison Artillery, it is not known however if he saw service abroad.[10]  Died: He was reported as having contracted tuberculosis on 14.4.1924, dying in Long Melford later in the year on 23 November.[11]

Notes – [1] Recorded as Roland Shinn on the UK Census for 1911.  [2] For details of 23rd Middlesex’s movements see War Diary [WO 95/2639/3].  See also his Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914-1918 [WO 329] and Service Medal and Award Rolls Index Cards 1914-1922 [WO 372].  [3] Commonwealth War Graves Commission record and British Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects, 1901-1929 file [ref: 949843].  [4] Supplement to the Royal Artillery Attestations 1883-1942, Royal Artillery Honours & Awards, 1886-2013 [ref: 68/Gen/8072] and London Gazette, 10.10.1945.  [5] Date of birth from the Baptism Register 1.9.1897, Holy Trinity Church, Long Melford. [6] For reports on Percy’s wounding see Suffolk and Essex Free Press 13.6.1917 and 17.10.1917. [7] For details of the movements of 2nd, 8th, and 11th Suffolks see War Diaries [WO 95/1437/2, WO 95/2039/1-5, and WO 95/2458/3 and WO 95/3062/2]; also see Murphy, Lieutenant-Colonel C. C. R. The History of the Suffolk Regiment 1914-1927 [London: Hutchinson and Co, 1928], pp.219-225, 238-43 and 249-55.  See also his Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914-1918 [WO 329] and Service Medal and Award Rolls Index Cards 1914-1922 [WO 372].  [8] Baptism Register 8.1.1889, Holy Trinity Church, Long Melford.  [9] For the Tribunal’s rulings see Suffolk and Essex Free Press 21.6.1916 and 1.8.1917.  [10] Pension Ledgers and Index Cards, 1914-1923 [ref: 11/M/414401 and 11/W/16882].  [11] Tuberculosis: Register of Notification from Medical Practitioners, Bury Record Office [ref: EF501/4/23].

Genealogical Tables

Research by David Gevaux MA © 2024
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