Events « Faulder Family Genealogy

17 August, 2010

Portrait of Evelyn Faulder MM, F.A.N.Y. by kind permission FANY (PRVC)

Evelyn Faulder drove an Ambulance with the FANY during World War One.

Third daughter of Joseph Sewell Faulder & Emily Story. My Great Aunt.
During the Great War she served (from April 1916) with the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY) in France and Flanders. The FANY were originally set up with the rather romantic idea that horsewomen could ride out onto the battlefield and scoop up wounded soldiers and bring them back to safety. In practice they drove heavy motor ambulances.
Her medal index card indicates that she achieved the rank of sergeant.
The London Gazette of 5 July 1918 gives the following citation:

His Majesty the KING has been pleased to approve of the award of the Military Medal to the under mentioned Ladies -for distinguished services in the Field, as recorded: —
Miss Sarah Bonnell, First Aid Nursing Yeomanry,
Miss Evelyn Gordon-Brown, First Aid Nursing Yeomanry,
Miss Aileen Maude Faulkner, First Aid Nursing Yeomanry,
Miss Evelyn Faulder, First Aid Nursing Yeomanry,
Miss Nellie Dewhurst, V.A.D., attd. First Aid Nursing Yeomanry.
For gallantry and conspicuous devotion to duty, when an ammunition dump had been set on fire by enemy bombs and the only available ambulance for the removal of wounded had been destroyed. These ladies subsequently arrived with three ambulances, and, despite the danger arising from various explosions, succeeded in removing all the wounded. Their conduct throughout was splendid. War Office, 8th July, 1918. (more…)

Eileen Mary Fell was a first cousin of my paternal grandmother, Marjorie Fell Faulder (née Lendrum). Her mother Elizabeth Fell was a sister of Eileen’s father Henry Fell.
Eileen was shown by Marjorie Fell Faulder (in her notes) to have married a Paul Cuthbert Petrie, but I could not find a reference to this marriage.
I could however find a reference to a marriage to a Steinthal – but not to his death.
It turns out that Paul Steinthal had changed his name during WW1 to Petrie (his mother’s maiden name).
Searching through on-line sources such as the London Gazette and the London Times plus being provided with photographs of a family memorial helped identify Eileen’s descendants and their immediate cousins.

Harold Faulder, 3rd Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment

Eldest son of Joseph Sewell Faulder & Emily Story. My paternal Grandfather.
He returned from the United States (where he was working) to enlist via the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps.
He initially served in England with the 3rd Battalion of the York and Lancaster Regiment.
Later he served in France with the 14th Battalion of the same regiment (The 2nd Barnsley Pals), when he was acting commanding officer in the final weeks of its existence before it was disbanded.
He was killed in action near Ypres four days after joining the 1/4th battalion of the York and Lancaster Regiment and has no known grave.
He was mentioned in despatches twice, but details are currently unknown.
There is some dispute over his rank at his death.
His only child, my father, was born 10 weeks after his death.