Blaydon Edward Pilbrow was born in Hinderclay, Suffolk, on 20 July 1899, the only child of William & Laura (nee Blaydon). By 1901 he & his parents had moved to Ipswich, where his father was a jobbing gardener; in 1911 they had returned to Hinderlay, to Walvert Tree Farm.
By 1917 Blaydon was a student teacher and at the age of 17 years & 359 days (as shown in his Army records), he enlisted, at Ipswich, in the Middlesex Regiment. Sent to join the BEF in France on 2 April 1918, he was reported missing just three weeks later.
As a Prisoner of War Blaydon died of paratyphus on 21 September 1918 in a hospital in Metz. His grave was finally found and its location reported to his parents in 1920. He was buried in the Chambieres French National Cemetery in Metz. He was just 19 years old.
We will remember them.
