| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
Private Gerard Whitelam was born in Beverley the 25 Nov 1899 and baptised at Beverley Minster the 29 Dec 1899, the son of William Craike Whitelam of Hessle and Eliza (nee Hewson) of Beverley, they married in 1896. William was a master draper with a drapery and home furnishing business, “Whitelam and Sons”, on Toll Gavel. The family lived at Belgrave Villas, Westwood Lane, and later on Railway Street before moving to Shaftesbury Villas, Grovehill Road, Beverley. Gerard attended Beverley Grammar School where he won a prize in mathematics and was in the Church Lads’ Brigade after 1913.
Gerard enlisted on the 24 Nov 1917, wanting to be a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps, his eyesight was deemed inadequate and he was “compulsorily transferred” to the infantry serving with the Middlesex Regiment, the Royal Fusiliers (3rd Battalion City of London Regiment) and the Kings Royal Rifles during 1918-19. He was wounded in action and hospitalised in Aug 1918. In Jun 1919 he opted to serve with the 4th Army Cyclist Corps in Cologne, Germany, part of the British occupation army in the Rhineland area. His brother Philip had been in POW near the city in 1918. After being hospitalised with scabies he left the army in Jun 1920 much to the relief of his parents who had been pressurizing the army authorities to release him without realising he had consented to extend his period of army service.
Gerard worked as an agricultural engineer on his return to Beverley. On 15 Feb 1921 he married Jane Stennett of Cherry Burton, they had three children, William, Jean and John. They lived in Leven where Gerard was working as an insurance salesman. On 30 Jan 1924 the “Police Gazette” contained a wanted notice from East Riding Constabulary for “Gerald Whitelam”(sic), stating that he had deserted his wife and family and had left them destitute and in receipt of Poor Law benefits paid by local ratepayers. There is no record of Gerard after this time. Jane and her family went to live with her parents in Cherry Burton. Jane died in Beverley in 1985.
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |