681488 DVR. T. GALVANI.  R.F.A.

 

Tudor Galvani was born in Liverpool on 29 June 1894 and baptised at Liverpool St Peter’s on 23 July.  His grandfather, Theodore Galvani (1824-1878) had emigrated from Italy to Scotland in 1840.   He became a school teacher and moved to England, living in various towns.  Tudor’s father was also Theodore Galvani (b. 1864 in Oxford).  Theodore was a labourer but after the family moved to Liverpool in the 1880s, he became a ship’s rigger.  In 1889, he married Mary Ellen (Minnie) Rowlands (b. 1869 in Liverpool).  Theodore and Minnie had 12 children but they lost five in infancy.  The survivors were: Theodore (b. 1892), then Tudor, then Percy (b. 1899), Thelma (b. 1902), Noel (b. 1903), Robert (b. 1907) and finally Minnie (b. 1911).  In 1911, the family was living at 14 Brisbane Street, Kirkdale, Liverpool.  Tudor was a trucker in a flour mill.

 

Tudor enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery, probably in 1915.  His service number, 681488, is among a batch assigned to men from Liverpool who were posted to “D” Battery in 286 Brigade, and I assume he did his training with these men, but he was later transferred to 57th Divisional Ammunition Column, as a driver.

 

We know from 286 Brigade’s War Diary that there was especially heavy shelling on 6-7 July but the precise circumstances surrounding Tudor’s death are not known.  He died of wounds near Erquinghem on 7 July 1917.  He was 23 years old.

 

Rank:  Driver

Service No:  681488

Date of Death:  07/07/1917

Age:  23

Regiment/Service:  Royal Field Artillery.  57th (West Lancs.) Div. Ammunition Col. 

Cemetery/memorial reference: II. D. 17.

Cemetery/Memorial:  ERQUINGHEM-LYS CHURCHYARD EXTENSION

 

Two of Tudor’s brothers also served in the War.

 

Theodore was also in the artillery.  He was 54601 DVR. T. GALVANI, and he served with 41st Brigade.  He landed in France on 16 August 1914.  41st Brigade formed part of the divisional artillery of 2nd Division.  This Division fought throughout the war: at Mons, the Marne, the Aisne in 1914; at Festubert and Loos in 1915; on the Somme in 1916; at Arras and Cambrai in 1917; and through the German Spring Offensive and finally the 100 Days in 1918.  Theodore survived it all and was demobbed on 14 December 1918.  He married Agnes Dorothy Watts in 1923 and the couple had a son, Theodore, in 1928.  The war make have taken its toll on Theodore as he died in 1939 aged only 46.

 

Percy Galvani also signed up.  He was born in December 1899 and he attested he was willing to serve on 21 September 1918, and his service was dated from that day even though he was still only 17.  He was then in training at home and finally landed in France on 2 July 1918.  It appears he originally signed up with the Manchester Regiment but when in France he served with 1/4Bn York and Lancaster Regiment, with service number 58053.  There was some confusion after the War as to whether Percy was entitled to any medals, although his army records clearly show he was in France for the last four months of the War.   Percy was finally demobilised on 14 October 1919.  The medal situation was later resolved and Percy received his medals in 1922.  Percy married Martha Dowling in 1921 and they had several children, and Percy died in 1967.

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