Jeffrey Parkhurst Tearle 1914, Lebong, India

I was struggling to identify this chap, too. Here is his service record from CWGC
Name: TEARLE, JEFFREY PARKHURST
Initials: J P
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Serjeant
Regiment/Service: King’s Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster)
Unit Text: 2nd Bn.
Date of Death: 21/11/1941
Service No: 3709500
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: 12. D. 23.
Cemetery: KNIGHTSBRIDGE WAR CEMETERY, ACROMA

Knightsbridge War Cemetery is located 750 metres south of the main road from Benghazi to Tobruk, about 25 kilometres west of Tobruk. Jeffrey was killed fighting Rommel’s forces in North Africa. But this did not tell me who he was. I checked Roll of Honour:

Branch at death Infantry
Branch at 1/9/39 Infantry
Regiment, Corps etc The King’s Own Royal Regt (Lancaster)
Surname Tearle
Christian Name(s) Jeffery
Initials etc. J P
Rank Serjeant
Number 3709500
Born India
Residence Cheshire
Died Date 21/11/1941
Theatre of War Middle East

I could find no Tearle born in India, so this story had to wait. Then Mavis sent me this on 05/08/2007:
“A friend found this on an Army Marriages index. Tearle, Samuel H. – Parkhurst – Station: Lebong, India. 1913. Also Jeffrey P. Tearle born 1914 Lebong. This would be the son of Samuel Tearle and Dorothy Parkhurst.”

I have not yet found where their daughter Geraldine was born but believe she was born around 1919.

Mavis then went one step further she asked the King’s Own Royal Regiment Museum, Market Square, Lancaster about Jeffrey, and his father Samuel Hugh Tearle 1899, Marlow. The response was truly remarkable:

” Samuel Hugh Tearle is listed in our records, he probably enlisted in around 1909/10. He appears to have been posted to the 2nd Battalion after basic training at the Regimental Depot at Bowerham Barracks, Lancaster. He is recorded as number 10220 with the rank of Sergeant in 1915 when he arrived in France. He is recorded as the Supply Sergeant of C Company, of the 2nd Battalion. He landed in France on 15th January 1915 and thus would have received the 1914-15 Star along with the British War and Allied Victory Medals. He was commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant, from Sergeant, on 30th March 1917 and was promoted Lieutenant on 30th September 1918. It would appear that he spent a period in 1919-20 working for the War Office. I have no further details. The records show that between 1939 and November 1944 he served with the 6th Battalion of the King’s Own.

His son, Jeffrey Parkhurst Tearle, is recorded as having enlisted into the King’s Own Royal Regiment on 16th June 1930. He appears in a 1936 photograph of the 1st Battalion ‘Sons of the Regiment’ at Wellington Barracks, India. He is recorded as having been killed in action, with the rank of Sergeant, on 21st November 1941 and is buried at Knightsbridge War Cemetery, Libya. Clearly he was killed in action at Tobruk. There is more information on our website concerning both the First and Second World Wars, including information on Tobruk and photographs of the regiment.

We have nothing futher on Sgt J P Tearle, but is may be possible to find more by contacting the Army Personnel Centre in Glasgow. Their details are on the links page of our website. They issue information to the next of kin and charge a fee. I would suggest that if there are details of marriage and children they would hold them. We have no record of marriage or children, which for some soldiers would appear in the Regimental Journal. In this case I can confirm that there is nothing listed.”

Incredibly, they sent a photograph.

Mavis said: “Attached is a photograph of Jeffrey Parkhurst Tearle received from the King’ Own Regiment Museum, Lancaster. It was taken on St. George’s Day the 23rd April 1936 at Wellington Barracks in India.The caption reads 1st Battalion Sons of the Regiment. Jeffrey Tearle is in the middle row fifth from the left (indeed he is the middle soldier.) Jeffrey looks so much like my father.”

Sons of the Regt 1936 Jeffrey Parkhurst Tearle in Wellington Barracks India