THURMAN

		Source
		CWGC	SDGW	Uttoxeter Advertiser	Other
Parents	Edward Harrington Thurman and Ann Eliza Thurman	Yes			2
Position in the family	Had a sister ‘Miss Thurman’			1c	2
Where born	Sherwood	Yes
	Sherwood, Nottinghamshire				2
When born	About 1884				4
Address	Parents: Selby Lane, Keyworth, Nottinghamshire	Yes			2
Address	Self: Newark		Yes
	Uttoxeter, Staffordshire				2
Spouse
Children
Employment Before Joining up	Was for many years the representative of Messrs. Shaw & Co., corn factors, of Uttoxeter			1c
Employment Before Joining up	Ex employee representative of Messrs. Shaw & Co., corn factors, of Uttoxeter				2
Where enlisted	Nottingham				2
When enlisted	Outbreak of war			1c	2
Previous Military Service	Associated with Nottingham District Yeomanry some years before the outbreak of war			1c
Regiment	South Nottinghamshire Hussars	Yes	Yes		2
Unit	1^st/1^st Bn.	Yes			2
Unit	Household Cavalry and Cavalry of the Line (including Yeomanry and Imperial Camel Corps)		Yes
Rank	Corporal	Yes	Yes	1c
Rank	Formerly Sergeant			1a, 1b	2
Service Number	280323	Yes	Yes		2
Date of Death	3 December 1917	Yes			2
Age at time of death	33	Yes
Where Killed or died	Tarta, Jerusalem, Palestine (Israel)
	Palestine			1c
	Egypt				2
How he died	Killed in Action			1c
How he died	Died of Wounds				2
Location of Grave or Memorial	Ramleh War Cemetery Grave H.42	Yes
Location of Grave or Memorial	Uttoxeter Town War Memorial (Market Place)				2, 3
Awards

At the end of December 1915 he was serving in Swaffham and wrote to the Uttoxeter Advertiser^[1a] to thank the townsfolk for a Christmas parcel that they had sent:

The parcel came as a pleasant surprise, for up to the present I am the only one in the Sergeant’s mess to be remembered in such a substantial way by townspeople. I have had my leg pulled at various times about ‘Utcheter’ but I can assure you I did not forget to ‘rub it in’ when I had the table spread.”

At the time of writing the above letter he was attached to the headquarters staff as Sergeant Instructor of Musketry^[1a].

By November 1916 he was serving in the Balkans and sent a copy of “The Balkan News” to the Uttoxeter Advertiser^[1b]. As the newspaper was published in Salonika, it seems likely that his service took him there at some stage.

The Uttoxeter Advertiser published an extract from “The Balkan News” as follows^[1a]:

To-day is our birthday number, and we sincerely hope that it will never attain its second anniversary. Such a wish is unusual in those who are responsible for the life and vigour of newspapers, but ‘The Balkan News’ is unique among its kind. It was born of the war – it is indeed one of the very few authentic war babies – and the continuance of ist existence depends directly on the continuance of the war.

In conclusion the writer says: “Let us hope that by this time next year the successful march of events will have enabled us all to take a cheery farewell of Macedonia. And if Fate and the Kaiser will otherwise – well, ‘The Balkan News’ will still be there, helping to make the best of the situation.”

At some stage after this, Sergeant Thurman was reduced in rank to Corporal Thurman^{[1b, 1c]}. We don’t know why.

He was killed in action in Palestine^[1c] on the 3^rd of December 1917. Shortly afterwards, the Uttoxeter Advertiser published an obituary^[1c], which said the following:

“He was well-known in the Uttoxeter district, especially amongst the agricultural community, having for many years been the representative of Messrs. Shaw & Co., corn factors, of Uttoxeter.

Corporal Thurman came to Uttoxeter from the Nottingham district, and on the outbreak of war he rejoined the Yeomanry unit with which he was connected some years previously.

He was for several years a member of the Uttoxeter Town Cricket Club^{[also 2]}, being popular with all who knew him and his many friends in the district will be sorry to hear of his death.”