Oliver Locks research

1887 - 1973

British officers 1912 pattern tunic, worn by Lt William Thomas Martyn , Born in Plymouth Devon 8th January 1887 . A pre war regular who,s battalion was the 1st Devon's , at the wars breakout stationed on the small island of Jersey . He was at this time an ordanary soldier . His Battalion landed in France 22 August 1914 ,making him very much an "Old contemptible " The sharp eyed will notice the lack of silver Rossetti on the 14 star ribbon but there are marks where it was and it and possibly an MID clasp are simply missing . His service number on the medal card is 8288 . He made good progress and ended up as a WO2 before taking a commission on 26th February 1918 . He was married in 1911 to an Elisebeth Kate Taylor and had 6 children . To my mind a typical example of a man who was clearly a good type and already married on the wars breakout and due to the war was promoted far more quickly than would have been the case in the pre war army . He is said to have left the army and worked as a taxi driver in Exeter , Devon , and passed away on boxing day 1973 , I big thanks to Paul Hannon for this excellent research.