Lavenham, Suffolk

I was in Lavenham yesterday, and took photos of the impressive stone war memorial inside the church of St Peter and St Paul. Not for the first time, I was staggered at just how many names were recorded there were from what is and was a small community.

I was drawn to two men with the surname WELHAM. I have this name in my own family tree, and my maternal grandmother was a WHELLAMS by birth, the name having changed over the course of a hundred years or so.  The Roll of Honour website has done a great job on the Lavenham war memorial but has drawn a blank on two of the WELHAM men. I did a little bit of digging this evening and wonder whether I have identified one of them.

The Lavenham memorial notes Corporal R Welham, Suffolk Regiment, and I wonder whether this is in fact 7785 Lance-Corporal Richard Welhams, a regular soldier who appeared with his regiment on the 1911 census and who, judging by his regimental number, must have joined the regiment in late October or early November 1908. Born in Portsmouth, he enlisted in nearby Sudbury and lost his life serving with the 11th Suffolk Regiment on the 22nd March 1918. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Arras memorial.

I note that Alfred Welham, as recorded on the memorial, was also a regular Suffolk Regiment man (number 7265) who also enlisted at Sudbury and was killed in action on the 26th August 1914. Could he and Richard Welham/s be brothers I wonder? More digging required.