223451 Cpl. Elijah Waddilove MM.British Army 1st Btn. Loyal North Lancashire Regiment from:Beverly Street, Preston Elijah Waddilove was my grandfather. He was the first son of Richard and Ann waddilove and lived in Beverly Street, Aston on Ribble, Preston. He was a serving soldier in barracks down south in the 1911 census and was the first to go to France wearing the star medal. I think he was also a dispatch rider. Grandad got the military medal for bravery in the field in 1916 as a corporal which was mentioned in a London paper.
He went through the first war along with his brother Richard Waddilove and also his wife Lizzies brother, James Bromley, who lost a leg in battle. Grandad's brother Richard was prisoner of war during the conflict. His cousin who lived in the same street was also a soldier and he died and is buried in France. The article in the paper showed a photo of him age twenty six - it's hard to think of what he did for his country.
My grandparents brought me up from birth. As a child I remember a German helmet and sword being in a cupboard at home in St. Peter's Street, Preston. I think he suffered a gas attack and remember him struggling to walk and breath in later years. He died in 1956. My grandad was the only father figure in my life.
How I wish I could have told him how proud of him I was. Grandad must have had a sense of fun, at age six he told me ask the priest about Adam and Eve having two sons Cain and Abel and Cain slew his brother and went to the land of nod and took to himself a wife and I was to ask ask were he got his wife from. Of course I was told to shut up and sit down! My grandparents lost two sons and a daughter in the thirties - the boys would have been old enough to go to the second war had they lived. Grandad was the eldest of thirteen children most of who died at birth. He was a larger than life character I remember, who boxed for the army and played football in an article someone showed me.
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