HENRY CHARLES RICHARD WELHAM
Field of Honour
Image from the Suffolk Chronicle and Mercury – 1917
Born: 1894, St. John’s, Ipswich.
Baptised: 24th June 1894, at St. John the Baptist Church, Ipswich – family home at 57, Kemball Street, Ipswich.
Died: Saturday, 25th July 1920; age 26; died of Phthisis and Heart Failure, at 8 Dover Road, Ipswich.
Brother, Reginald William Welham, was present at the death.
Residence: 8, Dover Road, Ipswich.
Occupation: Plough Fitter with Messrs. Ransomes, Sims & Jefferies – Plough Works. After he was demobbed in March 1919, Henry returned to work for about a year before the effects of his military service began to manifest themselves.
Enlistment date: August 1914.
Date of Entry Therein: 8th November 1914.
Henry was wounded three times, also badly gassed, and won the Military Medal at Menin Road.
Demobilised in March 1919.
Rank: Corporal; Service Number: 200447.
Regiment: Suffolk Regiment, 3rd Battalion.
Formerly 2087, Suffolk Regiment.
Medals Awarded: Victory, British War & 1914 Star + Military Medal – for gallant conduct in the field – whilst attached to a Trench Mortar Battery.
Relatives Notified & Address: Eldest son of Mrs E. S. Welham of 8, Dover Road, Ipswich and fiancé of Miss Ethel Bloomfield.
Military funeral held on the 29th July.
Grave Reference:
BA.2.36.
Ipswich.
CENSUS
1901 59, Kemball Street, Ipswich.
Henry was 6 years old and living with his parents & siblings.
Benjamin William Welham, 29, a Hotel Ostler, born Blakenham, Suffolk.
Elizabeth Sarah Welham (nee Broom), 29, born St. Margaret’s, Ipswich.
Katie Elizabeth Welham, 5, born St. John’s, Ipswich.
Reginald William Welham, 11 months, born St. John’s, Ipswich.
1911 79, Kemball Street, Ipswich.
Henry was 16 years old, a Plough Fitter – Plough Manufacturer. He was living with his parents & siblings.
Benjamin, 39, a Packer – Iron Foundry.
Elizabeth, 39.
Katie, 15.
Reginald, 10.
Benjamin George Welham, 8, born St. John’s, Ipswich.
John Ernest Gilbert Welham, 6, born St. John’s, Ipswich.
Sidney James Thomas Welham, 3, born St. John’s, Ipswich.
Frank Albert Welham, 7 months, born St. John’s, Ipswich.
Henry is also remembered on the war memorial at St. Clement’s Congregational Church, Ipswich.
Suffolk Chronicle and Mercury – Friday, 6th August 1920 – MENIN ROAD MILITARY MEDALLIST BURIED – The funeral took place at Ipswich Old Cemetery of the late Mr. Henry Charles Welham, of 8, Dover Road, Ipswich. The deceased joined the 1/4th Suffolks, in August 1914, at the age of 20, and proceeded to France in the following November. He was wounded three times, also badly gassed, and won the Military Medal at Menin Road. He was demobbed in March 1919, and returned to his work at Messrs. Ransomes, Sims, and Jefferies.
After working for about twelve months, the effects of his military service began to manifest themselves. He was admitted to the Ipswich Isolation Hospital, where he was an inmate for four months, and passed away on Saturday last at the residence of his parents.
Full military honours were accorded at the funeral, the gun carriage, firing party, and trumpeters being supplied by the 68th Battery R.F.A., by permission of Major Cooper, D.S.O.
The service at the Cemetery was conducted by the Reverend G. L. Manson, assistant priest at St. Bartholomew’s Church, the interment subsequently taking place in the Field of Honour. The mourners included: Mr. and Mrs. Welham (father and mother), Messrs. R. and B. Welham (brothers), Miss K. W. Welham (sister), Miss Bloomfield (fiancée), Mrs. Bloomfield and several others.
There were a large number of floral tributes, amongst them being tokens from the 4th Suffolks, the Comrades of the Great War, “Friends at the Asylum Hotel,” “Neighbours and friends, and the Ipswich Women’s Guild.
The funeral arrangements were carried out by Messrs. Hastings and Son, of Berners Street.
Suffolk Regiment, 3rd Battalion
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