( 8) Trooper Stanley Smith Pilbrow

Boer War Veteran

Trooper Stanley Smith Pilbrow (8) was the third son of James Smith Pilbrow F.R.C.S. and Hannah Pilbrow of The Leas, Westcliff-on-Sea, and was born in 1874. He married Evelyn Mary Grout on 30th November1895. He had two children, Leslie Stanley and Anita Mary. His son also served and survived WW1, dying in 1976. He and his wife lived at “White House” (No. 482), High Road, Benfleet in 1914 to 1915.

He volunteered for service in the Boer War and joined up on 25th January 1901 and eventually became a Quartermaster Sergeant in the Scottish Horse. He was discharged on 30 August 1901. He was called up with the reserve at the outbreak of WW1 on 25th August 1914 and was stationed at Slough.

The Southend Standard edition of 16th December 1915 reported:

He was six feet four and a half inches tall, and broad in proportion, and no greatcoat could be found to fit him. He did his duty without one and caught a cold sleeping on the ground under canvas. He was sent to a Military Hospital and later returned home where his condition worsened, and he was sent to a hospital at Bournemouth where he died on 9th December 1915 aged 41.

When he was sent to the Military Hospital he was diagnosed with having tuberculosis. He was discharged as no longer being physically fit on 3rd May 1915. He is mentioned in the Essex Roll of Honour.

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