Selected Biographies

Spearman, Bertram Alfred – Born: Langham, Essex on 11.6.1895.[1]  Parents: William Spearman (Agricultural Labourer) and Rosa May Susannah [née Whymark].  Family Connections: Brother to George William Spearman of Long Melford [b1886] and Harry Spearman [b1890].  Home: Star Inn, Bear Street, Nayland, Suffolk (1901), Red House Farm, Bromeswell, Woodbridge, Suffolk (1911), Merston, Oving, Chichester, Sussex (1921), The Bays, Whyke Road, Chichester (1939) to [1968].  Occupation: Clerk (1911), Inland Revenue Clerk (1921), Collector of Taxes for Bognor Regis [1934],[2] Civil Servant (1939).  Married: Gladys Florence Mary Hume in 1934.  Service Record: Although no definitive military record has been found, Bertram may have been conscripted as Pte.242143 with the Gloucestershire Regiment.  If this assumption is correct, then he would have later transferred as Pte.625989 to the Labour Corps.[3]  Died: Chichester, Sussex in 1968.

Spearman, George William – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 10.3.1886.[4]  Parents: William Spearman (Agricultural Labourer) and Rosa May Susannah [née Whymark].  Family Connections: Brother to Harry Spearman [b1890] and Bertram Alfred Spearman [b1895].  Home: Claske Farm, Acton, Suffolk (1891), servant to Alexander Barlow at The Hall, High Street, Wivenhoe, Essex (1901), Kesgrave Lodge, Kesgrave, Suffolk (1911), Bromeswell, Suffolk [1916].  Occupation: Page (1901), Groom (1911).  Service Record: George enlisted as Pte.2330 with 1/4^th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment, being posted to France and transferred as Pte.40284 to 9^th [Service] Battalion, Suffolks.  He was later transferred as Pte.40245 to 2^nd Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment as part of 25^th Brigade, 8^th Division.  Died: Private Spearman was killed in action on 16.11.1916, probably from an artillery barrage while in trenches at Lesboeufs during the last few days of the Somme Offensive.  He is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme [pier and face 1c], Somme, France.[5]

Spearman, Harry – Born: Acton, Suffolk on 30.1.1890.[6]  Parents: William Spearman (Agricultural Labourer) and Rosa May Susannah [née Whymark].  Family Connections: Brother to George William Spearman of Long Melford [b1886] and Bertram Alfred Spearman [b1895].  Home: Claske Farm, Acton, Suffolk (1891), Star Inn, Bear Street, Nayland, Suffolk (1901), 19 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, London (1911), Dislove House, Bruton, Somerset (1921), White House, Merston, Chichester, Sussex (1939), 2 Khartoum Road, Whitley, Surrey [1956].  Occupation: Footman (1911), Butler (1921), Handyman and Special Constable (1939).  Married: Ellen Maud Fisher in 1914.  Service Record: Although no definitive military record has been found, Harry may have been conscripted as Pte.24277 with 8^th [Service] Battalion, The King’s [Shropshire Light Infantry].  This unit saw action on the Western Front up to November 1915 and thereafter in Salonika.[7]  Died: Hambledon, Surrey on 5.11.1956.[8]

Notes – [1] 1939 Register.  [2] See court report ‘Non-Payment of Income Tax’ in Chichester Observer 25.4.1934.  [3] See his suggested Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914-1918 [WO 329] and Service Medal and Award Rolls Index Cards 1914-1922 [WO 372].  [4] Baptism Register 18.4.1886, St Catherines Mission Church, Long Melford. [5] For details of 2^nd Lincoln’s movements during the 1916 Somme Offensive see War Diary [WO 95/1730/1].  See also his Commonwealth War Graves Commission record, British Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects, 1901-1929 file [ref: 391719], Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914-1918 [WO 329] and Service Medal and Award Rolls Index Cards 1914-1922 [WO 372].  [6] 1939 Register. [7] For details of 8^th Shropshire’s time in Salonika see War Diary [WO 95/4853].  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] National Probate Calendar.