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This data is related to World War 1
Sapper

Tom Bland

Service number 480137
Military unit 104th Field Coy Royal Engineers
Address He enlisted in Nottingham
Date of birth
Date of death 22 Mar 1918 (39 years old)
Place of birth Nottingham
Employment, education or hobbies

Stone mason

Family history

Tom Bland was born on 23rd December in 1879 in Nottingham he was baptised alomg with his sibling on 13th June 1888 at St Ann's, Nottingham he was the son of Tom a stone mason and Sarah Ann Bland née Slack

His father Tom was born in 1852 atAswarby, Lincs he died in 1899 aged 46 yrs , his mother Sarah Ann Slack was born in 1852 at Radford, they were married in 1875 at Radford, the family lived at 16 Vicarage Street, St Ann's, and seven children were named on census records between 1881 and 1911: William Henry, Mary A. Tom, Caroline, Albert, George and Annie. Sarah was a widow by the time of the 1901 census; she died in 1915 at the age of 64.

In the 1911 census the family are living at 16 Vicarage Street, Nottingham and are sown as Sarah Ann 60 yrs a widow she is living with her son Tom 33 yrs single a stone mason and Annie 18 yrs a dress maker.

Tom was married to Emma Truman (born 1st July 1877) in 1914 (marriage registered Oct/Nov/Dec). They were living at 13 Gladstone Street Nottingham at the time of his death.

Commencing 18th November 1918 his widow was awarded a pension of 13 shillings and 9 pence a week.

Military history

Sapper Tom Bland enlisted at Nottingham and served with 104th Field Company, Royal Engineers. He was reported missing on 22 March 1918 but his death was not confirmed until the following year. He is buried in Jeancourt Communal Cemetery Extension, near Aisne, France (grave ref. II.A.28). He qualified for the British War Medal and Victory Medal.

Extra information

His brother Private William Henry Bland enlisted at Nottingham and served with the 1st battalion King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. He was on board the troopship HMT Transylvania (formerly the liner SS Transylvania, requisitioned as a troop ship 1915), on passage from Marseille to Alexandria when the ship was hit by two torpedoes from German submarine U-63 (Otto Schultze) off Cape Noli in the Gulf of Genoa (40m from Genoa). The ship sank in less than one hour after first struck with the loss of over 400 lives. However, there were over 2,000 survivors including Red Cross nurses.

Nottingham Evening Post notice (abridged), 31 January 1919: ‘Bland. Missing March 22nd 1918, now reported killed, Sapper Tom Bland, Royal Engineers, husband of Emma Bland, 13 Gladstone Street, St Mary.’

Rachel Farrand

Photographs