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Captain Thomas Blanchard PEMBERTON
88th Battalion Victoria Fusiliers (British Columbia) Canadian Infantry, and 11th Battalion Canadian Engineers Date of birth: 26th April 1884 Date of death: 26th October 1954 Died aged 70 Buried at Brookwood Cemetery
Thomas Blanchard Pemberton was born at 23 Gloucester Terrace, Campden Hill, Kensington in London on the 26th of April 1884 the eldest son of Busick Edmonds Pemberton, a solicitor, and Harriett Eleonora (nee Mills) Pemberton of Coke's Green, Chalfont St Giles in Buckinghamshire. He was educated at Hazelwood School until December 1897 where he was a member of the Choir and was a member of the Football XI in 1896 and 1897. He was a member of the Cricket XI in 1897. The school magazine wrote the following on his 1896 football season: - "Inside left, also too slow, and very unsafe on his pins, and too fond of fiddling about with the ball from side to side. A good shot, but spoils it by being always offside." They wrote of his 1897 football season: - " Inside left; very uncertain, at times brilliant, at times absolutely obstructive - to his own side - from a tendency to dribble the ball to his outside partner instead of passing it to him, thereby losing his own place and blocking his partner instead of his opposing forward. At times a good shot at goal." The magazine wrote of his 1897 cricket season: - "The greatest disappointment of all. last year we thought we had got hold of a real good thing, but his batting, though often at other times good, was never successful in matches, and his fast left hand bowling, very seldom. Fairly smart and safe in the field, but a wild thrower." When he left the school, the magazine wrote of him: - " Goes to Eton, where if he will only grow, he ought to be heard of in many a field of physical prowess. He has been a useful member of both Elevens, a boxer of very high merit, and will be a great loss to the Choir and the stage." He went on to Eton College where he was in J.P. Carter's and Robert Penrice Lee Booker’s Houses from January 1898 to 1902. While he was there he served as a member of the Officer Training Corps. He joined the Honourable Artillery Company in 1904 and later emigrated to Canada where he worked as a surveyor and lived at Willow’s Camp, British Columbia. He enlisted the 88th Regiment of Volunteers in 1914 and was commissioned as a temporary Lieutenant on the Canadian General List on the 9th of November 1915. He volunteered to go overseas on the 6th of January 1916 at Victoria in British Columbia. He sailed for England with his battalion from Halifax on the 31st of May 1916 and landed at Liverpool. The battalion was absorbed into the 30th (Reserve) Battalion Canadian Infantry on the 18th of July 1916 and was based at East Sandling in Kent, although he was not attached to the new unit until the 23rd of October 1916 and was transferred to them on the 17th of November 1916. He sprained his ankle on the 21st of July 1916 while on the parade ground at Moore Barracks and was sent for an X-Ray which confirmed that there was no evidence of a fracture. He was admitted to West Cliff Canadian Eye and Ear Hospital, Folkestone on the 22nd of July 1916. A Medical Board was convened at Shornecliffe on the 3rd of August 1916 to consider his injuries: - “This officer slipped while walking in camp twisting his left ankle. Considerable swelling developed and he was removed to West Cliff Hospital. He is now convalescent but the joint is still painful." He was discharged the same day and was sent on leave for three weeks. A Medical Board which sat at Shornecliffe on the 25th of September 1916 found him to be fully recovered and he was discharged to duty. He transferred to the 1st Canadian Reserve Battalion on the 4th of January 1917 and was sent on a musketry course at Dibgate on the same day where he joined the 32nd Rifle Party and qualified as a 2nd Class Instructor both in musketry and in the mechanism for the Lewis gun. He returned to his unit on the 22nd of January 1917. He was promoted to temporary Captain and reverted to the rank of Lieutenant on the 15th June 1917 when he was attached to the Canadian Training Depot as an infantry instructor. He was seconded for service with an Officers Training Battalion based at Seaford on the 13th of August 1917 and was posted to the British Columbia Regimental Depot at Seaford on the 19th of October 1917. He was seconded to the Canadian Engineers Training Depot on the same day. He was admitted to the 2nd Eastern General Hospital at Brighton on the 22nd of October 1917 suffering from scabies and was discharged on the 9th of November 1917. He transferred to the Canadian Engineers with the rank of temporary Lieutenant on the 6th of May 1918 and was posted to the Canadian Engineers Training Centre at Seaford on the same day. He was posted to the 2nd Canadian Engineers Reserve Battalion on the 21st of May 1918. He embarked for France on the 17th of September 1918 and joined the Canadian Engineers Training Depot the following day. He transferred to the 11th Battalion Canadian Engineers on the 28th of September 1918 and was later promoted to Captain. He went to England on two weeks leave from the 13th of January 1919. He was admitted to the Canadian Officer's Red Cross Hospital at 17 North Audley Street on the 16th of May 1919 suffering from septal deflection and was released the following day. A report read: -"Deflected nasal septum, rhinitis, Div. septum since childhood. Rhinitis aggravated by war conditions. No operation indicated from military point of view. Provided with medicine for personal use. Discharged to duty." He embarked for the return voyage to Canada on the 15th of July 1919 and was demobilised from the army on the 1st of August 1919. He announced his engagement to Ethel Margaret Pitts of Piermont, British Columbia on the 7th of August 1919 and they were married at Victoria on the 11th of September 1919. They arrived back in the UK on board the SS "Corsican", landing at Glasgow on the 8th of October 1919. They had a daughter Margaret, born on the 27th of January 1924 and later another daughter, Jane. He worked as a mushroom grower and horticulturalist at Church Farm House, North Lancing in Sussex where he died. His funeral took place at Brookwood Cemetery Church at 3.30pm on the 29th of October 1954.

Went on to Eton College