Spittlehouse David Cpl 4455892
Personnel Entry
Name Spittlehouse David (surname subsequently Sutton from 1948).
Army number 4455892
Rank Private.
Decorations Granted normal WW2 Service Awards. Commemorative medal awarded - detail not yet known.
Date of birth Born Hebburn 3/1/1921. Mother's maiden surname Geddes. Baptised 26/1/1921 at St John's Church, Hebburn.
Age Aged 90 at the time of his death.
Unit Enlisted in The Durham Light Infantry, 12th May 1939. He was 5ft 4in tall weighing 128lb, with a dark complexion and dark hair and brown eyes. Posted to the 9th Battalion DLI 12/5/1939. Embodied 2/9/1939. Posted to the 12th Battalion DLI 4/9/1939. Transferred to the Black Watch 1/2/1940, and posted to the 1st Tyneside Scottish. Served with the B.E.F. in Northern France from 24/4/1940. Wounded. Returned to the UK - possibly via Dunkirk - and was posted to the Infantry Training Centre 24/5/1940. Returned to the 1st Tyneside Scottish 23/6/1940. Served Iceland October 1940 - December 1941. Posted to the Airborne Forces School and Depot 2/4/1943. Returned to the 1st Tyneside Scottish at his own request 8/4/1943. Served Normandy from 11/6/1944. Posted to the X(II) List 5/8/1944 - possibly as a result of injury or illness. Posted to Number 32 Reinforcement Holding Unit 14/8/1944. On the disbandment of the Battalion transferred to the Royal Scots Fusiliers 22/8/44, under Authority: X/108/44, and posted to their 11th Battalion - RSF Enlistment Book 358/5/92. Relegated to the Class Z Army Reserve 3/8/1946. His records were transferred to the Royal Engineers for administration purposes on 15/2/1952.
Company/Battery Bn HQ, HQ Company.
Platoon or other sub-unit Probably Admin. Platoon initially then later Signal Platoon.
Task or role Understood to have been Batman to Lt Cohen while in Northern France. Later became a Signaller.
Joined Brigade 1/9/1939.
Promotions Best Company shot 3/40. Appointed Acting Unpaid Lance Corporal 25/2/1944. Reverted to Private on admission to hospital 5/8/1944. Reappointed Acting Unpaid Lance Corporal 16/11/1945 and then Lance Corporal on the same day. He was promoted to Acting Corporal on 18/1/1946, confirmed as Corporal the same day and promoted to War Substantive Corporal on 18/4/1946, the rank he held on demobilisation.
Wounded Understood to have been lightly wounded in 1940. He had a short spell in a Field Dressing Station in Normandy in 1944.
Prisoner of War No.
Died/Killed in action Died on 20/10/2011 in Lichfield.
Home address His father was Joseph Spittlehouse and his mother Isabella Geddes, though his grandmother was listed as his Next of Kin on his enlistment. Worked as an Apprentice Fitter. At the time of his Baptism, his family lived at 54, Charles Street, Hebburn. Later he lived at 74, Campbell St. Hebburn-on-Tyne and then resided in the Midlands, living at 10 Whitehouse, Common Road, Sutton Coldfield and then 97 Blackberry Lane Sutton Coldfield. Married Margery Agnes Holton 10/4/1945. Worked at Reyrolles. He was very well regarded as a footballer during his service and on discharge was given an exemplary character.
Source table 1TS
