Tom Bland
- Family History
- Military History
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Tom Bland was born in 1879 in Nottingham and was the son of Tom and Sarah Ann Bland. His father was a stone mason. 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 in 1914 (marriage registered Oct/Nov/Dec). They were living at 13 Gladstone Street Nottingham at the time of his death.
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.
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
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