Selected Biographies

Tolchard, Bernard Newberry – Born: Ampthill, Bedfordshire on 16.8.1898.[1]  Parents: Frederick William Tolchard (Manufacturing Chemist) and Emma [née Newberry].  Family Connections: Brother to Frederick George Tolchard [b1888] and Leslie Arthur Tolchard [b1894]; also, brother-in-law of Frederick R. Porter [b1900], Joshua Ward Adams [b1892] and Thomas Robinson [b1895].  Home: Foundry Lane, Ampthill, Bedfordshire (1901), The Ferns, The Green, Long Melford (1911 to 1921), 129 Abbotts Road, Mitcham, Surrey [1939 to 1965].[2]  Occupation: Fitter and Turner [1916], Sailor [1916 to 1931].  Married: Gladys Ethel Whittle in 1927.  Service Record: Bernard was conscripted on 16.8.1916 as N^o. M7082 with the Royal Navy, serving at sea from 28.1.1918 to 31.8.1919 on the battleship HMS Royal Oak.  By 1921 he was an Engine Room Artificer and in 1931 was awarded the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal.[3]  Died: Merton, London in 1968.

Tolchard, Frederick George – Born: Hitchin, Hertfordshire on 1.9.1888.[4]  Parents: Frederick William Tolchard (Manufacturing Chemist) and Emma [née Newberry].  Family Connections: Brother to Leslie Arthur Tolchard [b1894] and Bernard Newberry Tolchard [b1898]; also, brother-in-law of Joshua Ward Adams [b1892], Thomas Robinson [b1895], Frank Stephen Theobald [b1875] and Walter Clifford Theobald [b1887].  Home: Foundry Lane, Ampthill, Bedfordshire (1901), Royal Navy, Chatham, Kent (1911), The Ferns, The Green, Long Melford [1917], East View, The Green, Long Melford (1921 to 1939).  Occupation: Butcher’s Assistant [1906], Sailor [1906 to 1923], Motor Mechanic (1921 to 1939).  Married: Matilda Elizabeth Theobald of Long Melford in 1914.  Service Record: Frederick enlisted in 1906 as Boy Sailor N^o.  233976 in the Signals section of the Royal Navy.  He served at sea during the First World War as a Leading Signalman on the troopship HMS Tyne from 13.6.1914; HMS Wellington from 1.6.1917; the protected cruiser HMS Thetis from 23.11.1917; HMS Vigorous from 5.1.1918; and the light cruiser HMS Danae from 8.6.1918 to 30.4.1919.  Frederick was Mentioned in Despatches in September 1917 and awarded the Rumanian Distinguished Conduct Medal 3^rd Class in 1919.[5]  During the Second World War he served as a Special Police Constable in Long Melford and was secretary of the Long Melford Ex-Service Men’s Club.[6]  Died: Newmarket, Suffolk in 1968.

Tolchard, Leslie Arthur – Born: Hitchin, Hertfordshire in 1894.  Parents: Frederick William Tolchard (Manufacturing Chemist) and Emma [née Newberry].  Family Connections: Brother to Frederick George Tolchard [b1888] and Bernard Newberry Tolchard [b1898]; also, brother-in-law of Joshua Ward Adams [b1892] and Thomas Robinson [b1895].  Home: Foundry Lane, Ampthill, Bedfordshire (1901), The Ferns, The Green, Long Melford (1911).  Occupation: School Teacher [1915].  Service Record: Leslie enlisted on 13.4.1915 as Pte.17692 with 6^th [Service] Battalion, Prince Albert’s [Somerset Light Infantry] and posted to France from 17.8.1915 to 13.5.1916, as part of 43^rd Brigade, 14^th [Light] Division.  On 16.11.1916 he was transferred as Pte.270707 to ‘C’ Company of 2/1^st Battalion, Hertfordshire Regiment, then on 10.2.1918 to ‘B’ Company of 1^st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment and re-posted to France as part of 15^th Brigade, 5^th Division.  In April the Battalion fought a defensive action at the Nieppe Forest, one of the many such actions during the German Spring Offensive.[7]  Died: Private Tolchard was killed in action during the recapture of Achiet-le-Grand on 23.8.1918, as part of the wider Battle of Albert.  Leslie is buried in Achiet-le-Grand Communal Cemetery Extension [grave ref: IV.S.7], Pas-de-Calais, France and commemorated on the Long Melford War Memorial.[8]

Related Biographies

Adams, Joshua Ward – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 26.4.1892.[9]  Parents: Thomas Adams (Shoemaker) and Alice [née Mills].  Family Connections: Brother to Thomas Edward Adams [b1887], Frederick John Adams [b1894], Ernest Seaman Adams [b1899] and George Cecil Adams [b1902]; also, brother-in-law of Frederick George Tolchard [b1888], Bernard Newberry Tolchard [b1898] and Sydney Charles Slaughter [b1897], and nephew of Ernest Edward Adams [b1859].  Home: Hall Street, Long Melford (1901), The Ferns, The Green, Long Melford [1917], emigrated to Australia on the SS Bairanaid [1922].[10] Occupation: Solicitor’s Clerk (1911) and [1917], Mechanic [1922].  Married: Helena Tolchard in 1917.[11] Service Record: Recorded as Sgt.02940 later Second Lieutenant [Sub-Conductor] in the Army Ordnance Corps.  On the occasion of his wedding in 1917, the local paper observed that the ‘bridegroom had been stationed on the Western Front for about two years and is now enjoying well-earned leave in his native village’.[12]  Died: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia on 31.1.1948.

Porter, Frederick R. – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 21.1.1900.[13]  Parents: Algernon Porter (Keeper of the Black Lion Hotel in Long Melford) and Leonora Brett [née Dyer].  Family Connections: Brother-in-law of Frederick George Tolchard [b1888] and Bernard Newberry Tolchard [b1898].  Home: Black Lion Hotel, Westgate Street, Long Melford (1901), School House, Bridge Street, Long Melford (1911), emigrated to Australia.  Occupation: Labourer [1917].  Married: Lily Maud Tolchard in 1920.  Service Record: Frederick enlisted on 22.2.1917 as Pte.2341 with 18^th/13^th Light Horse Regiment transferring on 29.1.1918 as a Gunner to 31^st Battery, 8^th Australian Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, under the command of 3^rd Australian Division in France.  During 1918 his unit saw action at the First and Second Battles of the Somme and the Battle of the St Quentin Canal.  He returned to Australia in 1919 where he received his discharge.[14]  Died: Carnegie, Victoria, Australia on 29.12.1969.

Robinson, Thomas – Born: Grantham, Lincolnshire on 1.5.1895.[15]  Parents: John Robinson (Butler) and Esther [née Gammons].  Family Connections: Brother of George Robinson [b1893]; also, brother-in-law of Frederick George Tolchard [b1888], Leslie Arthur Tolchard [b1894] and Bernard Newberry Tolchard [b1898].  Home: Station Road, Knebworth, Hertfordshire (1901), The Green, Long Melford (1911), 14 Church Road, Great Cornard, Suffolk [1922], Baileul Villa, Sudbury Road, Great Cornard, Suffolk [1939].  Occupation: Wheelwright (1911), Carpenter [1915 to 1939].  Married: Eva Beatrice Tolchard of Long Melford in 1917.[16]  Service Record: Thomas enlisted on 12.4.1915 as Air Mechanic N^o. 4575 with the Royal Flying Corps, being posted to France from 5.3.1916 to 10.5.1916 with N^o. 23 Squadron.  He was promoted to Flight Sergeant in 1916 transferring on 1.4.1918 to the Royal Air Force and receiving his discharge in 1922.[17]

Notes – [1] Date of birth from his RN Record. [2] Address taken from the Electoral Roll for Mitcham. [3] Royal Navy Registers of Seaman’s Services [ADM 188/1032] and Medal and Award Rolls [ADM 171/142].  [4] Date of birth from RN Record.  [5] Royal Navy Registers of Seaman’s Services [ADM 188/414].  For notification of being Mentioned in Despatches see London Gazette 24.9.1917 and Suffolk and Essex Free Press 14.11.1917, and for the award of his Rumanian DCM see The Edinburgh Gazette 21.3.1919, p.1251 in the name of Frank Tolchard.  [6] 1939 Register.  See also Suffolk and Essex Free Press 24.2.1944.  [7] For details of the movements of 6^th Somerset Lights and 1/1^st Bedford’s see respectively War Diaries [WO 95/1909/1 and WO 95/1903/2], and [WO 95/1570/1-2].  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]. [8] Commonwealth War Graves Commission record and British Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects, 1901-1929 file [ref: 865535].  The notice of his death in Suffolk and Essex Free Press 25.9.1918 suggests that Leslie also served for a brief time in Italy in 1918, although the unit is not mentioned.  [9] Baptism Register 5.6.1892, Holy Trinity Church, Long Melford. [10] For evidence of emigration and occupation see Outbound Passenger Lists on https://search.ancestry.co.uk/.  [11] Marriage Register 20.6.1917, Holy Trinity Church, Long Melford and SEFP 27.6.1917.  [12] Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914-1918 [WO 329].  [13] Baptism Register 4.3.1900 Holy Trinity Church, Long Melford.  [14] National Archive of Australia [ref: B2455/8019521].  [15] 1939 Register.  [16] Marriage Register 6.12.1917, Holy Trinity Church, Long Melford.  See and article in Suffolk and Essex Free Press 19.12.1917.  [17] Air Member for Personnel and predecessors: Airman’s Records [AIR 79/60].