Photographs provided by Len Scott
Lance Corporal Harold Shirley WHITEMAN, 7307, 3rd Battalion, Queens Own Royal West Kent Regiment, died, Mile End Isolation Hospital, Colchester, Essex, 18th June 1918, age 32.
8th April 1886, born London. son of Thomas Wyatt & Sarah Maria Whiteman, 34 York Road, Sudbury, Suffolk.
5th May 1886, St Paul, Lorrimore Square, Southwark, baptism of Harold Shirley Whiteman, son of Thomas Wyatt, (draper), & Sarah Maria Whiteman, 8 Camberwell Road.
1911 Census - Plummer Roddis Ltd, 106-108-110 South Street, Eastbourne, Sussex - Harold Shirley Whiteman, Assistant, age 26, single, drapers assistant, Drapery, born London, Middlesex.
Enlisted Brighton, Sussex, age 29 years, height 5ft 10 inches. Resided 110 South Street, Eastbourne, Sussex.
Home 3rd June 1915 to 31st October 1916; BEF 1st November 1916 to 14th February 1917; Home 15th February 1917 to 13th May 1918
3rd June 1915, enlisted & posted 3/1st Sussex Yeomanry, Service No.; 2675; 23rd February 1916, transferred to 2/4th Royal Sussex Regiment, Service No.4109; 29th August 1916, appointed unpaid Lance Corporal; 11th October 1916, reverted to Private; 11th October 1916, appointed paid Lance Corporal; 19th October 1916, transferred to 4th Battalion, Royal West Kent Regiment; 19th October 1916, posted 3rd Battalion, Royal West Kent Regiment; 1st November 1916, posted BEF; 3rd November 1916, posted 8th Battalion, Royal West Kent Regiment; 14th February 1917, sick to England; 15th February 1917, posted Depot, Royal West Kent Regiment; 27th November 1917, posted 3rd Battalion, Royal West Kent Regiment; 14th December 1917, posted unpaid Lance Corporal; 5th January 1918, transferred to Eastern Command Labour Centre, Labour Corps, Service No.505464; 22nd April 1918, Horton (County of London) War Hospital, Epsom.
11th March 1918, Horton (County of London) War Hospital, Epsom - Medical Report on an Invalid -
Disability, Pulmonary Tuberculosis; Origin, about September 1917; Place of Origin, England; "No family history of TB obtainable. Always good health before joining Army. Athletic, rowing, boxing etc. Sent from France 13.2.17 with Colitis. March 1917 he had Diphtheria in Hospital at Leicester at which time he developed a cough. He was given Furlough November 1917 and rejoined his Regiment (R.W.Kent) 3 weeks later sent to Sutton Labour Company and then here 1.3.18. Haemoptysis 3 weeks before a ?????? and very repeatedly since, now night sweats, states to have lost weight, signs of disce??? apices of both lungs, confirmed by xrays. Attributable to conditions of active service during present war. Lowered power of resistance to infection owing to Colitis while on active service following Diphtheria in Military Hospital.
Present Condition - Cough. Scanty expectoration. Signs of disease at both apices, x-rays show shadow at both apices. Sputum. T.B. positive.
Recommend discharge as permanently unfit. 70% disability.
22nd April 1918, Officer in Charge of Hospital - "I have satisfied myself of the general accuracy of this report and concur therewith.
13th May 1918, Nottingham, discharged. On discharge, age 31 years & 11 months, height 5ft 11 months, complexion, muddy, hazel eyes, brownish black hair, good character, sober, honest & reliable formerly silk buyer. Intended place of residence, Pondlands, Wickford, Essex.
Brother in Law, Alfred Melson.
Pension from 14th May 1918 to 15th May 1919, 52 weeks. 4 weeks at 27/6, 48 weeks at 19/3 a week. Sanatorium suggested
Buried at All Saints Churchyard, Rettendon, Chelmsford Borough,Essex..
NOTE: this soldier does not appear in the Regimental History Roll of Honour or in Soldiers Died in the Great War; but he is included on the CWGC web site.
De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour -
L-Corpl No. 505464, The Labour Corps, youngest son of Thomas Wyatt Whiteman of 71 Barcombe Avenue, Streatham Hill, SW by his wife Sarah Maria daughter of Alfred Jones, Merchant of Gloucester; born 8 Camberwell Road, London SE, 8th April 1886; educated Wilson’s Grammar School, Camberwell, SE; was a silk buyer; volunteered for Active Service and joined the Sussex Yeomanry 3rd June 1915; was transferred to the Royal Sussex Regiment and subsequently to the Royal West Kent Regiment; served with the Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders from October 1916; was sent to hospital later , and invalided home, suffering from illness; on recovery was transferred to the Labour Corps in January 1918; was again sent to hospital in the following March, being discharged from the Army as medically unfit on the 13th May and died at Mile End Isolation Hospital, Colchester 18th June 1918 from phthisis contracted while on active service. Buried in Rettenden Churchyard, Battlesbridge. A comrade wrote, “I feel that I have lost a brother as well as a dear friend. Right proud am I to have known for so long (over ten years) such a very gallant gentleman. Unmarried.
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