7388 Pte Richard James Wenlock, 2nd Scots Guards

-

 


Arrived overseas: 7 October 1914

Connection: Photograph

Private Richard Wenlock was the recipient of this postcard, sent by his cousin in 1909. Richard had attested with the Scots Guards at Liverpool in February 1909 and, typical of Foot Guards attestations, signed up for three years with the colours and nine years on the reserve. He was actually transferred to the reserve after having served two years and 296 days and would not wear uniform again until mobilised on the 6th August 1914.


Richard arrived overseas on the 7th October 1914 and appears to have served continuously with the regiment until blinded on the 6th May 1915, his papers recording, "GSW [gunshot wound] both eyes". He was first sent to Lewisham Military Hospital on the 20th May 1915, and afterwards transferred to St Dunstan's in Regent's Park. He was discharged from the army in September 1915 and received a weekly pension of 25 shillings for life.

It was whilst he was being nursed at St Dunstan's that Richard met his future wife, one of the VAD nurses there, Isabel Balcombe. She and Richard were married in 1917 and they appear together on the 1921 census, Richard working as a net-maker, a trade he would have learned at St Dunstan's, and Isabel engaged in home duties, looking after their three-year-old son, Richard Balcombe Wenlock.

At some point, Richard was admitted to the Home County Mental Hospital in Chatham, and he was certainly there when the 1939 Register was taken in September of that year. He died in 1972, having been blind for 57 years. Isabel outlived her husband by 13 years, and died in 1975.


Popular posts from this blog

Historic Records: Men of 1914

-
Image
For some while now I have been building a collection of British Army soldiers who arrived overseas in 1914. The 'collection', which is incomplete, is comprised of single medals, medal groups, postcards, photos, autograph album entries, letters, and interviews with surviving veterans. In short, anything tangible, that connects a man to an arrival date overseas in 1914.  Great Britain went to war with Germany on the 4th August 1914 and within days, men of the British Expeditionary Force were arriving overseas, even though the first shot fired by the British Army would not occur until the 22nd August. Ascertaining when a man arrived overseas is easy enough, as the date appears on medal index cards. At the time of writing this post - 8th April 2025 - I have a connection for the majority of dates in 1914. The earliest date I have is the 6th August 1914 when Frederick Thomas Gris disembarked with the 6th Dragoon Guards -  I have his medals and those of his father too - whilst the la...
Read more

54571 Gnr Edward William Brown OR Milward, IV Bde, RFA

-
Image
Arrived Overseas: 14 October 1914. Connection: Victory Medal. Years ago I swore I'd never buy a single medal that had been disunited from its group. But I was young[er] and foolish then, and have since bought hundreds of single medals, and even re-united a couple. For those starting out on their medal collecting hobby, and even for grizzled old hoarders like me, the Victory Medal from the 1914-1918 War can offer hours of researching pleasure for a very modest investment and, besides which, like all British designed medals - and perhaps some from other countries too - it's an object of aesthetic beauty. This particular Victory Medal, which cost me £28 in March 2022, was once owned and earned by 54571 Gunner Edward Brown of the Royal Field Artillery. He'd joined the regiment on the 20th January 1909 under his real name of Milward, deserted in 1910, and then almost immediately re-joined under the alias of Brown. He served overseas with IV Bde RFA in the 7th (Meerut) Division f...
Read more

10941 Pte Charles Older, 1st Coldstream Guards

-
Image
Arrived overseas: 26 November 1914 Connection: British War Medal I picked up Charles Older's BMW from the London Medal Company in November 2023. Charles was born in Bersted, near Bognor, Sussex on the 10th September 1893 and by the time the 1901 census was taken he and his older brother William were living at the home of Thomas and Susan Stent in Arundel, their relationship to the head of house recorded as "Boarder". The 1911 census records Charles at the same address, now aged 17 and working as a grocer's assistant. Seven days after Britain went to war with German on the 4th August 1914, Charles attested with the Coldstream Guards at Worthing, and by the 26th November 1914 he was in France as part of a draft for the 1st Battalion which had been overseas since August. Charles received a gunshot wound to his right arm and hand and was returned to the UK as a wounded soldier. He subsequently transferred to the Labour Corps, served overseas again between January and Sept...
Read more