Tag Archives: Tearle

01Jan/16

Tearle, James, 1862, Preston, UK (Welsh Regt)

Preston, UK, Roll of Honour WW1, , , , ,

Here is his service record from the CWGC:

Name: TEARLE Initials: J
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Private
Regiment/Service: Welsh Regiment
Secondary Regiment: Royal Defence Corps
Secondary Unit Text: transf. to (3711)
Age: 36
Date of Death: 16/04/1918
Service No: 20724
Additional information: Husband of Alice Maria Tearle.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: A2. 12. 16.
Cemetery: WHITCHURCH (ST. MARY) CHURCHYARD, GLAMORGANSHIRE

I had wondered for a very long time who this was, but Lost Generation told me he was James and I had a James 1862 of Preston married to an Alice M… Was the CWGC wrong about his age? Ancestry gave me the medical records for a soldier whose military service began in 1880 and this lead me to be increasingly certain we had this chap already on the Tree. His parents were Thomas 1836 of Leighton Buzzard and Emma nee Ayres who moved up to Preston around the time Thomas’ brother Joseph 1838 of Leighton Buzzard (LB) did, closely followed by their father, Joseph 1803 Tebworth. Young James had brothers George 1868 Preston, and Robert 1871 Preston, both of whom died in 1873. Their father Thomas died in 1871, close to the birth of his youngest son, and their mother Emma died in 1879. In the space of eight years, James had become an orphan, with no family at all that he knew about. At 18yrs he joined the Loyal North Lancashire Regt, renewing several times. I can’t find any record of his serving anywhere overseas except for one year and 196 days on Gibraltar, in 1884. At this time he gave his next of kin as Sarah and Robert Gaunt of Preston. I have looked for a Sarah Tearle in Preston, but I can’t find one, so it is likely they were his foster parents. Around 1891 (I can’t find the marriage certificate) James married Alice Maria Edwards of Sipton, Staffs. In the 1891 census of Burnley, Lancs, they were newly married and living in 28 Aqueduct St, James describing himself as a Herbalist’s Assistant. Between 1892 and 1899 they registered four children in Colne, Lancs; Emmeline 1892, Alice 1894, Reginald 1896 and Minnie Louisa 1898. In the 1901 Colne census we can see James, Alice and their children living in 70 Market St, which is also the business address. James is a Herbalist (Shopkeeper) and the census enumerator categorises him as a SubMed.

James 1862 Preston 3711 and 2763 and 20724 ex-Lancs attestation 1914 in Wales.

James 1862 Preston 3711 and 2763 and 20724 ex-Lancs attestation 1914 in Wales.

WW1 started in June 1914 and James signed his attestation form, for 1 years service, in Cardiff on 16 Nov 1914. He said he was aged 45, but you can see that CWGC has this transfer at age 36. He transferred from the Loyal North Lancashire Regt to No 4 Supernumerary Co, 5th Battn Welch Regt, presumably because he was still a reservist, but now living in Cardiff. I have attached the two documents crucial to establishing who he was and to show his original attestation to the army in 1880 and again in Cardiff in 1914.

James 3711 and 2763 and 20724 army record p1

James 3711 and 2763 and 20724 army record p1

You can see his Loyal North Lancashire number (20724) in the lower document. It’s difficult to read because it’s scribbled out, but subsequent documents clarify it.

St Mary Whitchurch, Cardiff.
Above: St Mary, Whitchurch. On 19 Apr 1916, James transferred to the 24th Protection Coy of the Royal Defence Corps. He was living at 3 Hazelhurst Rd, Llandaff North, West Cardiff.He was described as a Shopkeeper, 5ft 7in tall, blue eyes, fair hair. In a medical report dated 22 Mar 1917, he was said to have been on leave in Preston from Fairweather Hospital, Cardiff when he contracted diarrhoea. He was operated on in Worley Hospital on 26 Feb 1916. He was certified “No longer physically fit for War Service” on 16 Apr 1917, and died on the very same day one year later. He was just 56 years old. Here is a copy of the record the army used to ensure he was correctly awarded the Silver War Badge.

James Tearle WW1 Silver War Badge

James Tearle 1862 Preston CWGC headstone in St Mary Whitchurch, Cardiff.

James Tearle 1862 Preston CWGC headstone in St Mary Whitchurch, Cardiff.

On 17 Apr 1918, his widow was awarded a pension of 15/- a week.

The fact that James was in Preston when he fell ill means to me that he still kept in touch with his family. The trip to Preston from Cardiff is a major undertaking and indicates the depth of the relationship he still enjoyed with his far-off family.

I wonder sometimes if James knew Charles 1894 Preston, above? It’s possible that in being an orphan he didn’t, but they are closely related, and in the same Lancashire regiment. James did receive a medal, but the record is unclear as to which one.

I have no clue as to why James should move all the way from Colne, Lancs to Cardiff, but his wife’s name might be Welsh and perhaps she felt the need to go to her family.

As with all the Preston Tearles, he is on the branch Joseph 1737.

01Jan/16
Thelma Mary Shepherd

Thelma Mary Shepherd 1931 Wing, Buckinghamshire, UK

Buckinghamshire, UK, , , ,

I cared deeply for Thelma, and here is the obituary I wrote for her:

Goodbye Thelma Shepherd 2005

Thelma Mary Shepherd

Thelma Mary Shepherd

We were still living in New Zealand when I wrote to Barbara Tearle of Oxford in 1992 asking her if my grandfather Arthur Tearle had any brothers and sisters. She wrote back to say he had one brother and many sisters, and she would put an advertisement in the local paper to see if there were any members of that family still in the district. It was Thelma who wrote to me. She explained that she was the daughter of Harry Tearle of Wing, son of Mahlon who was the brother of my grand-father Arthur and they were both the sons of the blacksmith of Wing, Levi Tearle.

From that letter came a lasting and deep friendship that I have enjoyed with my cousin, Thelma. We wrote letters, swapped cards and I even rang her a couple of times. She never forgot a birthday and she had a knack of getting a card to me on time, even though she may have sent it from England only three days before. She rang me once to say she had been allowed to buy her little house on the High Street in Wing that she had rented from the council for many years. Did I think she should buy it? I said “Definitely, it’s always better to own it than to rent it.” That Christmas she asked us to raise a toast to her as a newly propertied woman.

In March 1994, our dear son Jason was tragically killed and it was Thelma who organized her aunt Clarice Pugsley and cousin Sheila Leng to go with her all the way to New Zealand in November that year to help us in our grief. It was Thelma who gave us the 6 walnuts from the tree in Jennie Pugh’s back yard, which was itself a son of the tree that grew in Levi’s garden in Wing, which in turn was grown from a walnut gathered from the tree which grew for his mother in Stanbridge. Elaine, Thelma, Clarice, Sheila, my mother Tia and my father Frank each planted one of the walnuts under the kitchen window of our house in Whawharua. Two of those walnuts grew into trees and both of them are planted in different places on our farm, a tribute to Levi Tearle and the wonderful family he had brought up. Two years later, my father and I transplanted one of the saplings to a special corner of the block set aside for the tree and the Rev Fred Day, retired, of Te Kuiti conducted a small ceremony entirely in Latin to dedicate the tree to Jason’s memory. It was Thelma, too, who held Elaine’s hand in the car on the long journey to collect Jason’s ashes in the urn from the funeral director’s studio and Thelma, Clarice and Sheila were there in Hamilton with Genevieve, our daughter and a small collection of family and friends when my younger brother sang “Let the Circle be Unbroken” as Elaine and I finally laid our beautiful son to rest. A special bond had been formed, a bond that would grow stronger with time.

There was the wonderful reunion when they met my father for the first time. He and Mum came to Otorohanga for the formalities and saved us all the long trip to Hahei, and there were tears on the one hand and joy on the other, because my father was first cousin to Thelma’s father, Harry, and first cousin to Clarice herself. Arthur was much loved and much missed by his sisters.

Elaine and I were working in Te Kuiti at the time and each day we would go to work and we would organize something for “The Girls” to do while we were away. One day a Te Kuiti businessman took them on a trip to the black sand beach at Mokau where they met up with a bus carrying marching girls on tour. The busload of marchers was so taken with Thelma, Clarice and Sheila having come so far, that they put on their marching display, in their lovely costumes, just for them. They sat in the sun on a giant log watching the marchers while Tony Pivac poured tea from a flask into plastic mugs on a blanket on the beach. It was a magical day. On another morning, we took them to the Waitomo Club where they met one of the local bowling enthusiasts and captain of his team, the best bowler in the Waitomo. When we came home Thelma, Clarice and Sheila were sitting on the pool deck in the late afternoon summer sun, swirling their legs in the cooling water, drinking New Zealand sauvignon blanc, laughing and shadow bowling and celebrating Sheila’s remarkable win. She had crushed them, every single Waitomo bowler who had dared challenge her; every one who had thought she was merely lucky with the way she bowled. No-one had told them Sheila was the Bedfordshire champion. They thought she was just an English girl! Thelma and Clarice had sat in the shade under the veranda of the Waitomo Bowls Club and watched their cousin play her beautiful shots with borrowed bowls; and they had laughed and cheered for Sheila and talked with these delightful Waitomo Club players who bought them cups of tea and cool glasses of lemonade all day long. It was one of the sunniest and happiest days of the many adventurous days that Thelma spent in New Zealand.

“I was very brave today,” she said with a shy smile, “I watched someone take a bungy jump.”

“I was very brave today, I watched the “geezers” in Rotorua and dipped my feet in a hot pool.”

“I was very brave today, I walked under the Natural Bridge. I know its solid stone, but anything could have happened.”

That was after the day we took them on a trip along the Marokopa Road. We stopped briefly at the little Waitomo Caves School where Elaine used to be principal. We took a ride in a cave boat inside the Waitomo Caves and Thelma sat there utterly in awe, revelling in every minute of looking up at the thousands of beautiful glowing pin-pricks of light and being most impressed at how handsome and polite the young chap was who rowed the boat and helped her in and out.

We drove to the Marokopa Falls and Thelma watched the thundering water and felt the spray – that was brave, too, she said. Then we walked from the road to the Natural Bridge and along a narrow path beside a clear, cold stream. That was brave, too. We walked along the black sands of Marokopa Beach, dug fossils from the mudstone and listened to the thunderous roar of the Marokopa surf. That was brave, too. She was loving being an outdoors girl. We stopped at the Waitomo Hotel on the way home and had a cup of tea, just so we could go inside and sample its Olde Worlde elegance. It’s a late Victorian kauri building in a Regency style perched on top of a limestone cliff with a panoramic view over a pretty valley full of native bush. Thelma stood in the open glass doors and drank in the view while she told me how much she loved being in New Zealand. She would emigrate here and we could all live in the sunshine and she wouldn’t have to freeze in the bitter English winters.

That night we sat outside and had a glass of wine on the wooden steps of the house deck and Thelma looked up to see the Milky Way. “Where’s the Southern Cross?” I showed her where it was and how it pointed more or less to due south. “I have never seen so many stars.” During the time she was there, she would sit on the deck overlooking the farm and admire the skill and sheer hard work of Hurricane Jimmy, as they called him, the farmer who looks after our block. They admired his tractor work and he would come over to see them sitting on the deck and swap stories with them about his time on holidays in England and what they were doing on their holiday in New Zealand. Thelma talked about Hurricane Jimmy for years. For the whole time they stayed with us a tui visited the flax flowers and sang his beautiful melodies. A tui is a thrush-sized native bird, glistening black with a white tuft of feathers at the throat and a remarkable song of great clarity and purity of tone, distinguished from his imitators by a self-deprecating little cough at the end. They were totally charmed by this beautiful bird and considered themselves blessed.

They left a couple of days before Christmas. “Why not stay? We go to Pauanui for Christmas. You could join our beach barbies and go surfing every day. Who wants to go back to winter?”

“We’ve got to go home, our families would miss us.”

When we saw them off at the airport it was in the knowledge, the certain knowledge, that we would see them again. Our English family was not a myth; it was real, and the people we had met – Thelma, Clarice and Sheila – were some of the loveliest people we had ever met.

Elaine and I moved to England in 1999 and between then and now, Elaine’s friendship with Thelma has deepened into an enduring love. Elaine and Thelma dropped into a routine of contacting each other before the school holidays and Thelma would plan a trip they could take together. One year, she was feeling very lonely and asked us to take her to see Clarice. We drove down to Ilfracombe and Thelma stayed with Clarice while Elaine and I stayed in one of Clarice’s cottages about 3 doors away in the same street. Thelma and Clarice were like schoolgirls again; they gossiped and laughed and dug out family photos until deep into the night. We took Thelma to Lynmouth and she and I rode the cable railway up to Linton.

“I was very brave,” said Thelma, “I went up the railway and I didn’t close my eyes. Anything could have happened, you know.”

She and Clarice had a very tearful parting but they would see each other one more time. Clarice came up all the way from Ilfracombe to St Albans and Elaine took her and Thelma and Jennie Pugh to the Moat in Luton and it’s true that they never saw each other again. Thelma was so pleased that she had seen her beloved aunt.

On other holidays, Thelma would sit happily in the passenger’s seat and guide Elaine through the narrow country lanes of Beds and Bucks and point out all the places she used to bike to and all the places she used to know and she would talk about all the people who used to live there. One holiday recently she took Elaine to Southwold and Great Yarmouth and they sat on a wooden bench overlooking the beach, wrapped in blankets while she watched the RAF trying to salvage a Harrier jet that had crashed off the beach. Not far away, a young chap in T-shirt and shorts was watching the scene through a telescope mounted on a tripod and he noticed her watching him intently.

“Do you want to see the rescue?” he asked.

“Oh,” she said, “Do you think I might?” For the week they were there, the news was full of this Harrier being salvaged, but Thelma had organized a ring-side seat. Each morning she and Elaine went to the beach, examined the scene through the telescope and talked knowledgeably to the owner about things military. After all, her brother was an RAF Squadron Leader with an MBE.

“I was very brave,” she said, “I paddled in the North Sea. I could have been frozen, you know.” As she sat in the bus shelter with Elaine drying her feet, she collected quite a gathering of people who were happy to talk to this delightful old lady telling her story to her Kiwi companion. In a nearby café, she met people she knew from Wing. Later, she wanted fish and chips. Not any old fish and chips, mind, the ones in Great Yarmouth were not good enough. The only ones suitable were the fish and chips in Kessingland. There are rules about fish and chips; they have to be excellent quality and it’s not proper to pay too much. If the sign says the fish and chips are too expensive, you move on until a sign says the price is right. Thelma knew these things and Elaine loved her for it.

One holiday, Thelma navigated Elaine through the Buckinghamshire country lanes exploring thatched cottages and little Norman churches, some still showing damage from visits by Cromwell’s army. They trawled the churchyards for famous people from this time and examined the oak doors for bullet holes from Cromwell’s muskets. Thelma always had an exciting story to tell for every place they visited. Every holiday trip was thoroughly planned and each trip had a theme. Sometimes, they would sit under a tree while Thelma got her breath back and they would watch the passers-by and giggle as they made up stories about what their lives might be like. Thelma never took Elaine anywhere on the main roads, she always took “The scenic route.”

The very last trip Elaine and Thelma took was to Mentmore. Thelma was too weak to get out of the car, so Elaine jumped out and photographed the scene so Thelma could see the picture in the little screen on the back of the camera. She told Elaine all about the places they were seeing and how things had changed over time. She imagined herself living there…

A couple of days later, Thelma rang us to say she wanted to drive her red Ford Ka to Mentmore, did we think it was a good idea? Elaine said, “If you feel you can make it, then, yes of course you should go.” Thelma later rang to say that she had taken exactly the same route she had taken with Elaine and had sat in her car and looked out over that beautiful valley all the way to the narrow, steep spire of Leighton Buzzard church. As far as we know it was the last time she drove her beloved little Ka.

Thelma had a heart and a mind for the simple things; she had an encyclopaedic knowledge of English plants and of local history and yet she could play the high life as well. She was on the committee that vetted the people who would live in the Wing Almshouses. She took this job very seriously; my grandmother Sarah Jane Adams was brought up in the Wing Almshouses. On our last visit to see her in Stoke Mandeville Hospital, she told us how angry she was that the government was messing her pension about. Every time she went to hospital the pension stopped immediately, but it took weeks to get it started again when she got back home and that was a long and tiring business when it was so difficult for her to leave the house.

“I am going to write to the Minister of Pensions and tell him how to do this properly,” she said. “If you hear that he has resigned to spend more time with his family, you may assume that I had a hand in his downfall.”

Thelma was a woman of dignity and wonderful presence. She was intelligent and steeped in the knowledge of her family and mindful of her obligations to her friends, her mother and her village. She was a woman of rare character and great charm. She was a woman of the old school; gracious, generous and beautiful to the core. We shall not see her like again.

Ewart Tearle
St Albans
January 2005

01Jan/16

National Roll of the Great War

War Stories WW1, , , ,

National Roll of the Great War
This list of names and accompanying text from National Roll of the Great War was compiled by Barbara Tearle in Nov 2005.
The annotations at the end of each entry were originally written by Ewart F Tearle in Dec 2011. All the entries have now been researched and further documented, and are presented in the order of the list below.

The National Roll of the Great War was a multi-volume work, never completed, which attempted to document soldiers who fought in WW1, including the casualties. Of the 73 Tearle participants in WW1, only 17 have had their stories told in this work. I have transcribed those particular entries and ordered them firstly into nearby addresses, so we can see families and neighbours and I have added biographical details, as I know them, immediately after the entry from National Roll.

Tearle, J H, Rifleman
Rifle Brigade
Joining in 1916, he was drafted to the Western Front on completion of his training.  After taking part in several important battles, he was killed in action on the Somme on March 16th 1917.  He is buried near Guillemont, and was entitled to the General Service and Victory Medals. 45 Letchford Gardens, Willesden, London NW10

James Harry Tearle 1891 of Willesden, service number: s/21464, Rifle Brigade. He married Dorothy Amelia Victoria Browne. One of the Willesden cell, son of Jonathan Tearle of Stanbridge and Alice nee Kearns, grandson of William 1832 of Stanbridge and Catharine nee Fountain. John 1741

Tearle, S T
Private
He joined in November 1917, and in the same year was sent to the Western Front, where he was engaged in conveying food and ammunition to the lines in the Arras, Cambrai, Vimy Ridge and other sectors.  He was demobilised in March 1920, and holds the General Service and Victory Medals. 120 Ashmore Road, Harrow Road, London W9

Sidney Thomas Tearle 1893 of Willesden, service number M/380389 RASC (MT), son of Zephaniah T and Annie nee Buckingham. Married Florence May Fuller. One of the Willesden cell. John 1741 via Mary 1803 and Jane 1844.

Tearle, G
Private
Royal Army Medical Corps
He joined in September 1916, but owing to the loss of an eye before enlistment was unfit for foreign service.  For three years he was engaged at various stations on special duties in connection with the wounded, carrying the injured men from the boats to the hospitals.  He rendered valuable services before being demobilised in September 1919. 77 Carlyle Avenue, Willesden, London NW10

Otho George Tearle 1882 of Willesden, service number 47279, 29th Btn Middlesex Regt and 331034, 335th Lowland Field Ambulance, RAMC, who married Ellen Yule nee Rogers. He seems always to have called himself George. He was at the above address for the birth of two of his children. Son of Jonathon 1862 of Stanbridge and Alice nee Kearns and g-son of William 1832 and Catharine nee Fountain. Another member of the Willesden cell. Brother of James Harry T above. John 1741

Tearle, F J

Private
8th Bedfordshire Regiment
He volunteered in March 1915, and in the same year was sent to France.  During his service on the Western Front he was engaged in the fighting on the Somme, at Arras, Bullecourt and Cambrai, and was wounded on the Somme during the retreat of 1918.  He was demobilised in November 1919, and holds the 1914-15 Star, the General Service and Victory Medals. Tilsworth Road Stanbridge, Bedfordshire

Frederick John Tearle 1884 of Stanbridge, son of John 1862 and Annie nee Walker. Brother of Edgar, above. John 1741.

Tearle, E
Private
7th Bedfordshire Regiment
He volunteered in September 1914 and in the following January proceeded overseas.  He served on the Western Front and fought at Loos and the Somme, where he was wounded.  On recovery he rejoined his Battalion, and was engaged in the fighting at Passchendaele, Cambria and in the Retreat and Advance of 1918.  He was demobilised in March 1919, and holds the 1914-15 Star, and the General Service and Victory Medals. Tilsworth Road, Stanbridge, Bedfordshire.

Edgar Tearle 1891 of Stanbridge, service number 14397, Bedfordshire Regt and 590090, Labour Corps. Son of John 1862 of Stanbridge and Annie nee Walker; grandparents James 1823 and Hannah nee Phillips. John 1741.

Tearle, E G
Private
Labour Corps
He joined in June 1918, and was shortly afterwards sent to France.  Whilst in this theatre of war he was employed on important duties with his Battalion, and was frequently in the forward areas whilst operations were in progress.  He was demobilised in October 1919 and holds the General Service and Victory Medals. 119 St James’ Road, Watford, Hertfordshire.

Edward George Tearle 1898 of Hemel Hempstead. Military serial number 643043, Recruit Distribution Training Reserve. Married Nellie Elizabeth Boultwood. Son of Edward Joseph Tearle 1874 and Jane nee Picton. This is confirmed in his next-of-kin declaration on his army attestation form. G-son of Jabez 1844 and Susannah nee Payne, g-gson of George 1818 (one of the original Watford settlers) and Annie nee Haws. Has a significant family of descendants in Australia. Cannot find him in the WW1 Medals Card Index. Thomas 1737 via Fanny 1780.

Tearle, E J
Sapper
Royal Engineers
He volunteers in June 1915, and was shortly afterwards sent to the Dardanelles.  He was engaged with his unit at the landing at Suvla Bay and was wounded.  On recovery he was drafted to Egypt and served for a time at Ismailia in the Canal zone until May 1916.  He was then sent to the Western Front, and was frequently in the forward areas while operations were in progress in the Somme and other sectors.  He was demobilised in May 1919 and holds the 1914-15 Star, and the General Service and Victory Medals. 119 St James’ Road, Watford, Hertfordshire

Edward Joseph Tearle, 1874 of Watford, service number 101941, Royal Engineers, a skilled mason and son of Jabez 1844 and Susannah nee Payne. He is the FATHER of Edward George T 1898 above. Married Jane Picton.  He was 39 when he attested for the war. A Gallipoli veteran, he also received the Silver War Badge when he was invalided for sickness after his injuries. Thomas 1737 via Fanny 1780.

Tearle, E J
Private
1st Bedfordshire Regiment
He joined in November 1916 and in the following January proceeded overseas.  Whilst on the Western Front he fought in many engagements, including those at Arras, Passchendaele, Ypres, the Somme, and was gassed near Cambrai in 1918.  He was demobilised in November 1919, and holds the General Service and Victory Medals. 22 Chapel Path Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire.

Ernest John Tearle 1898, son of Ellen Tearle 1881 before she married Harry Toms. Military serial number 31747, Beds Regt and 44700, Suffolk Regiment. G-son Jane 1856 and g-gson of John 1823 and Hannah nee Creamer. John 1741.

Tearle, H
Stoker
Royal Navy.
He joined in 1918 and was posted to HMS Emperor of India. During the war his ship was engaged on special work patrolling the North Sea and other waters, and after the Armistice was employed on important duties off Constantinople.  He holds the General Service and Victory Medals and was still serving in 1920. 22 Chapel Path Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire.

Harry Edward Tearle 1900 of Leighton Buzzard, son of Ellen Tearle 1881 before she married Harry Toms. Military serial number SS119522 Navy. Younger brother of Ernest John T, above. As far as I know, neither man married. John 1741 via Ellen 1881.

Tearle, F
Private
RASC
Joining in November 1916, he was drafted shortly afterwards to Ireland.  He served in Dublin and various other places on special transport duties with his unit and did very good work, but was unsuccessful in obtaining his transfer to a theatre of war before the cessation of hostilities, and was demobilised in September 1919. 1 Alfred Street Dunstable, Bedfordshire.

Frank Tearle 1898 of Eaton Bray, son of George 1861 and Sarah Jane nee Horn.  Military serial number M/279390 RASC Motor Transport. G-son George 1831 and Hannah Maria nee Janes. Married Selina Florence Gore. Received the Silver War Badge when invalided out for sickness in 1919. William 1749.

Tearle, J
Corporal
1st Bedfordshire Regiment
He volunteered in September 1914, and was shortly afterwards drafted to France.  During his service in this theatre of war he took part in much fierce fighting, and was killed in action at the Battle of La Bassée on October 10th 1914.  He was entitled to the 1914 Star and the General Service and Victory Medals. 1 Alfred Street, Dunstable, Bedfordshire.

Jeffrey Tearle 1891 of Eaton Bray, elder brother of Frank, above. Military serial number 3/6459, 1st Bedfordshire Rgt. Parents George 1861 of Edlesborough and Sarah Jane nee Horn. Britain declared war on 4 August 1914, Jeffrey joined the army in September and was killed in France on 31 Oct 1914, according to Roll of Honour (CWGC). He must have impressed because even in this short time he had been promoted to corporal. William 1749.

Tearle, H
Driver
Royal Field Artillery
Volunteering in June 1915, he was sent to France in the following November.  Whilst on the Western Front he was in action at Ypres, La Bassée, the Somme and Arras, and was wounded twice.  He was demobilised in October 1919, and holds the 1914-15 Star, and the General Service and Victory Medals.  60 Queen Street Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire

Horace Tearle 1893 of Edlesborough, son of John 1863 of Edlesborough and Ellen nee Dyer. Military serial number 1421 and 890597 Royal Field Artillery. Married Ethel L Larke. G-son George 1831 and Hannah Maria nee Janes. Living in Hemel Hempstead in 1901 census, Herts. William 1749.

Tearle, H C
Private
Royal Fusiliers
He joined in April 1917, and at the conclusion of his training served at various stations on the East Coast on important duties with the 327th Works Company.  He did excellent work, but was unable to secure his transfer to the theatre of war before hostilities ceased, and was demobilised in January 1919. 58 Queen Street Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire.

Henry Charles Tearle 1888 of Edlesborough, brother of Horace above. Military serial number 176875, Royal Fusiliers. Married Elizabeth Winter. William 1749.

Tearle, J
Lance Corporal
6th Bedfordshire Regiment
Volunteering in September 1914, be was sent to France in July 1915.  Whilst on the Western Front he fought at the Battle of the Somme and was wounded on July 1st 1916.  He later returned to the front line trenches and was again wounded at Arras in April 1917.  On recovery he rejoined his Battalion and was wounded a third time in October 1917 near Ypres.  He returned to England in January of the following year and was engaged on Home duties until demobilised in February 1919.  He holds the 1914-15 Star, and the General Service and Victory Medals “South View”, Princess Street, Toddington, Bedfordshire

John Tearle 1896 of Toddington, son of Joseph Marlow Tearle and Emily nee Evans. Military serial number 16521, 7th Beds Regt. As far as I know, he never married. Joseph 1737 via Sarah 1847.

Tearle, W
Private
Machine Gun Corps
He volunteered in January 1915 and in May 1917 was drafted to Egypt.  He served in Palestine, was engaged in the fighting at Gaza, and was present at the Occupation of Jerusalem.  He was transferred to the Western Front in June 1918, and fought at Arras, Ypres and Vimy Ridge.  He was demobilised in February 1919 and holds the General Service and Victory Medals. “South View”, Princess Street, Toddington, Bedfordshire

Willie (William Marlow) Tearle 1893 of Toddington; service number 30602, East Riding Of Yorkshire Yeomanry, 150426, Machine Gun Corps. Son of Joseph Marlow Tearle and Emily nee Evans. Brother of John, above. G-gson of Joseph 1797 and Maria nee Millings. Joseph 1737 via Sarah 1846.

Tearle, W M
Private
2nd Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiments
He joined in April 1916 and 12 months later was sent to France.  During his service in this theatre of war he fought at Ypres, Passchendaele, the Somme, Cambrai and in the Retreat and Advance in 1918.  He holds the General Service and Victory Medals, and in 1920 was serving in India on garrison duties. The Square, Toddington, Bedfordshire.

William Major Tearle 1899 of Toddington, Military serial number 51273 (Beds Regt) and 43998 (Herts Regt) son of Major Tearle 1874 and Elizabeth Ann nee Turvey. Married Grace Nestor Andrews. John 1741 via Sarah 1823.

Tearle, W
Private
West Yorks Regiment He volunteered in September 1914, and proceeded to France early in the next year.  Here he saw much service, fighting in the second Battle of Ypres, and in actions near Albert and Nieuport.  In these engagements he was twice wounded, and again in the first Battle of the Somme.  On recovery from his last wound, he was transferred to the Eastern Front, where he remained until the cessation of hostilities.  Returning  home, he was eventually demobilised in June 1919, and holds the 1914-15 Star, and the General Service and Victory Medals. 1 Elmfield Terrace, Wortley, Leeds, West Yorkshire

Wilfred Tearle 1896 of Bramley, Leeds. Son of William 1859 and Annie Lee Lavers, g-son of George 1825 and Maria nee Franklin. George went to Leeds when others of the family of Joseph 1803 and Mary Ann nee Smith went to Preston. Joseph 1737.