Bullard, Leonard

Leonard was the seventh and youngest son of Samuel and Ruth (nee Hayden), born in Thriplow, Cambridgeshire on 25 August 1898. He was a pupil at the Merchant Taylors School in Ashwell.

Leonard enlisted with the Queen’s Royal West Surrey Regiment, 2^nd Battalion, Regimental Number G/23587 on 14 February 1917. In October of that year the battalion was deployed to Italy to strengthen the Italian resistance after a recent disaster at Caporetto and was positioned along the River Piave. Leonard was wounded in June of 1918 and spent some time in hospital in Italy. He survived the War.

He was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

He is commemorated on the St Mary’s Church Ashwell Roll of Honour, and in the Ashwell Cemetery.

Leonard married Mary Eleanor Lester in Ashwell, Hertfordshire on 31 July 1926. They had two daughters, Valerie Rosemary Anne born in the Windsor district in 1933 and Rosalie Mary Eleanor, born in Ashwell in 1942.

They moved to Egham, Surrey in about 1928. The 1939 census shows them living in Egham, Surrey with Leonard a chauffeur handyman. The electoral registers show them living in Steeple Morden from 1940.

Leonard died in September 1982 at Steeple Morden. He is commemorated in the Ashwell Cemetery, Hertfordshire.

Leonard’s brothers, Alfred, Arthur and David served in the War and survived but two brothers, Albert and Eli, were captured by the Germans at Cateau in May 1914 and spent the War in Doebritz Prisoner of War Camp. His brother Frederick was unfit for war and remained on the farm. His father, Samuel, served with the Hertfordshire Territorial Force and was billeted at home. All are commemorated in the Ashwell Cemetery, Hertfordshire.