Day two of the Battle of Neuve Chapelle and another 537 British Army deaths (according to Soldiers Died in The Great War). 3/9695 Private Percy Dudman of B Company, the 2nd Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment, was killed in action on the 11th March 1915. He was born in Tollard Royal, Wiltshire and enlisted at Salisbury.
Percy's number indicates that he originally joined the 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion in January 1912. When Britain went to war he presumably transferred to the 2nd Battalion fairly soon afterwards but retained his 3rd Battalion number. His service record does not survive, but his medal index card indicates that he arrived overseas on the 20th October 1914.
Percy came from a large family. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission notes that he was 21 years old, the son of Thomas and Emily Dudman of Hill Side, Pitton, Salisbury. In 1901, Percy appears as an eight-year-old living at Hindon, Wiltshire with his parents and siblings. Thomas Dudman, the head of the family is recorded as a 37-year-old police constable, and Emily was also the same age. The couple had eight children: Albert Dudman (aged 15), Thomas Dudman (aged 14), Daisy M Dudman (aged 12), George Dudman (aged ten), Percy, Walter F Dudman (aged six), Herbert Dudman (aged five), and Harold Dudman (aged two).
There is a birth registered in the June quarter of 1893 for a Percy Charles Dudman and this is probably almost certainly him.
Percy has no known grave and is commemorated on the Le Touret Memorial. His younger brother Walter, also a Wiltshire Regiment regular soldier, was killed in action on the 4th May 1916. He is buried in Ecoivres Military Cemetery, Mont St Eloi.
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.
Sources:
Ancestry (MIC)
Soldiers Died in The Great War
Army Service Numbers
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
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