Regiment: York and Lancaster Regiment, attached 12th Suffolk
Date & place of birth: 15 December 1879, Petworth
Date & place of death: 22 March 1918 (aged 38), France
Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Eardley-Wilmot was born in Petworth but moved to Leamington Spa when he was quite young; however, his parents returned to Petworth, probably when they retired.
Family background
Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Eardley-Wilmot was the son of Robert and Frances Gwynne Eardley-Wilmot, of Preyste House, Petworth. Robert was a GP in Petworth and by 1891 the family had moved to Leamington Spa where Robert was a physician and surgeon. They were still there in 1911 but clearly moved back to Petworth as that was where Robert was living when he died in 1935, leaving £11965 9s 6d. Theodore had one elder brother Edward.
In July 1908 he married Muriel Reynolds in Warwick and in 1911 they were staying at the Grand Hotel, Northumberland Avenue. He was a captain in the 2nd York and Lancaster regiment. They had two children Anthony Revell Eardley-Wilmot born 9 January 1910 and Mildred Joan Eardley-Wilmot, born 12 January 1912.
Military career
Theodore was a career soldier and is surely the Theodore Eardley-Wilmot listed in Hart’s Annual Army list 1908. This states that he has 9 years’ service, becoming a 2nd lieutenant in 12 August 1899 and a lieutenant in January 1901 in the East Surrey Regiment, serving in India. By 1911, he was in the York and Lancaster Regiment and was severely wounded at the Battle of Ypres, April 1915.
Death and commemoration
Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Eardley-Wilmot was killed on 22 March 1918 aged 38, probably during the German attack in Spring 1918. He was awarded the DSO and is commemorated on the Arras memorial.
Subsequent family history
Theodore left £938 2s 1d in his will and his address was given as Woodland Grange Leamington. His son Anthony Revell Eardley-Wilmot M.C. was a major in the Irish Guards who fell in the 1939-1945 War. He was an exhibitioner of Trinity College and is buried at the Tilly-Sur-Seulles War Cemetery. His daughter Mildred had three daughters: Caroline Davies born 1941, Sophia Davies born 1946 and the Honourable Julia Cross born 1953.