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Thomas Harrison Wand

Thomas Harrison Wand

Male 1890 - 1956  (65 years)


  • Name Thomas Harrison Wand  [1, 2, 3, 4] 
    Known as "Tommy" 
    Birth 26 Sep 1890  Esplanade Hotel, Paignton Find all individuals with events at this location   [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6] 
    • Born 26 Feb 1898 per sports history websites
    Thomas Harrison Wand(-Tetley) (1890-1956)    		 Thomas Harrison Wand(-Tetley) (1890-1956)
    Birth register
    Esplanade Hotel, Paignton    		 Esplanade Hotel, Paignton
    In 1894, and in 2012 (then The Inn on the Green)
    Residence Apr 1891  Esplanade Hotel, Paignton Find all individuals with events at this location   [3] 
    Education abt 1900 - 1903  Newton Abbot Grammar School Find all individuals with events at this location   [4] 
    Residence Mar 1901  Newton Abbot Grammar School Find all individuals with events at this location   [4] 
    • with elder brother Clarence Ernest Wand
    Education abt 1903 - 1908  Eastbourne College Find all individuals with events at this location   [7] 
    Education 1908 - 1910  Sandhurst Find all individuals with events at this location ; Royal Military College  [7] 
    Occupation 1910 -  Army Officer, Wiltshire Regiment (Duke of Edinburgh's)   [7] 
    Name Change abt 1911 - 1912  Thomas Harrison Wand-Tetley  [8, 9, 10] 
    • Changed his name from Wand to Wand-Tetley, at some time after census taken on 02 Apr 1911 and before promotion gazetted on 25 Oct 1912, following his mother's divorce from Ernest Wand and remarriage to Joseph Tetley in 1909 .
    Post/Rank/Title 05 Oct 1912  Captain  [11] 
    • The undermentioned Lieutenants to be Captains:-- [...] Thomas H. Wand-Tetley. Dated 5th October, 1912. [London Gazette, 25 Oct 1912]
    Military Service 1914 - 1918  Germany Find all individuals with events at this location ; Prisoner-of-war  [9, 12] 
    • Wand-Tetley, T H, Lieutenant, 1st Battalion Wiltshire Regiment, missing in action. [London Gazette 20 Oct 1914]
    • Thomas Harrison Wand Tetley. Capt 1/Wilts Regt. Disembarkation date 14 Aug 1914. Exonerated Officers List. Address after war HQ Gymnasium Aldershot; and The Lodge, Winchester. [WW1 medal index card]
    • In Kaserne Holzminden, Lower Saxony, from 1917. Took part in the great escape of Jul 1918.
    • Currently in development, Faces of Holzminden is a collection of short biographies of the real-life POWs of Holzminden. The book is a companion piece to a feature film, The Enemy Within, dramatising the Holzminden tunnel escape, also in development. [website accessed 29 Sep 2012]
    • The names of the undermentioned [...] have been brought to the attention of the Secretary of State for War [...] for gallant conduct and determination displayed in escaping or attempting to escape from captivity. Dated 5th May, 1919:-- [...], T. H. Wand-Tetley, 1st Bn., Wilts R., [...] [112 names]. [London Gazette, 27 Jan 1920, Issue no 31759. p 1234]
    Thomas Harrison Wand (later Wand-Tetley) (1890-1956)    		 Thomas Harrison Wand (later Wand-Tetley) (1890-1956)
    In Holzminden PoW camp, Jan 1918
    Marriage 26 Aug 1918  St John & St Philip, The Hague, Netherlands Find all individuals with events at this location   [8, 13] 
    Cécile Florence Tatham,   b. 20 Sep 1894, Pietermaritzburg, Natal Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 09 Jan 1980, Jersey Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Occupation 04 May 1920  Superintendent of Physical Training & Chief Instructor, Physical Training School  [14] 
    Residence 1926  62 Warwick Square, Pimlico Find all individuals with events at this location   [15] 
    Residence 1928  63 Belsize Park Gardens, Hampstead Find all individuals with events at this location   [15] 
    Post/Rank/Title bef Jan 1928  Major  [16] 
    Decoration Jun 1929  OBE  [17, 18] 
    • King's Birthday Awards: OBE (Military Division): Wand Tetley, Major Thomas Harrison, The Wiltshire Regiment (Duke of Edinburgh's), Superintendent, Physical Training, Eastern Command
    Occupation Mar 1935  Devizes Find all individuals with events at this location ; O/C Depot, Wiltshire Regt  [18] 
    Occupation bef Apr 1936  Aldershot Find all individuals with events at this location ; Lieut-Col; Commandant, Army School of Physical Training  [19] 
    Residence abt 1937 -  61 St Mary's Mansions, St Mary's Terrace, Paddington Find all individuals with events at this location   [15] 
    Occupation 01 Aug 1939 - 1944  Colonel; Inspector of Physical Training  [7, 20] 
    Thomas Harrison Wand (later Wand-Tetley) (1890-1956)    		 Thomas Harrison Wand (later Wand-Tetley) (1890-1956)
    In Second World War
    Post/Rank/Title 1944  Brigadier  [21] 
    • rank granted on retirement
    Occupation aft 1944  Adviser, Ministry of Health  [7] 
    Residence Nov 1946  155 Ebury St, Westminster Find all individuals with events at this location   [22] 
    Decoration bef 1955  CBE  [7, 23] 
    Residence - 1956  Les Hougues, Le Mourier Valley, St Mary, Jersey Find all individuals with events at this location   [7, 24] 
    Death 04 Feb 1956  Jersey Find all individuals with events at this location   [7, 10] 
    Probate 14 Feb 1956  Jersey Find all individuals with events at this location   [24] 
    • Will and Testament of Thomas Harrison Wand-Tetley, of Les Hougues, Le Mourier Valley, St Mary; dated 09/08/1955.
    • Tetley Wand- Thomas Harrison of Les Hougues le Mourier Valley St. Mary Jersey died 4 February 1956 Administration (with Will) (limited) London 14 June to National Provincial Bank Limited attorney of National Provincial Channel Islands Executor and Trustee Company Limited. Effects £12258 3s. 6d. in England [NPC]
    Notes 
    • Captain Thomas Harrison Wand-Tetley, Wilts. Regt., son of Mrs. J. Tetley of the Lodge, Winchester. Wounded dangerously in the neck, he had been a prisoner of war since 1914, and at the time of his marriage in Aug 1918 was interned in Holland.
      Capt. Wand-Tetley, on his return to England, was appointed Chief Instructor at the Army School of the Physical Training, at Aldershot. During his internment in Germany he greatly helped to maintain the morale of his fellow prisoners by organising Physical Culture and Boxing Classes, etc.
      Capt. Thomas H. Wand-Tetley was thrice mentioned in despatches:
      1. In Sir John French's despatch, dated 8 Oct., 1914, for gallant and distinguished services in the field.
      2. In the War Office List of Mentions, Times, Sep., 9, 1919, for valuable services rendered whilst prisoner of war.
      3. In the London Gazette, Times, Jan., 27, 1920, for gallant conduct displayed in escaping, or attempting to escape, from captivity.
      He represented Great Britain at the Olympic Games, at Antwerp, 1920, in two events:
      1. The Modern Pentathlon; and
      2. Fencing.
      In 1921, he formed one of the nine members of the British Fencing Team, the first on record, which sent to the United States to meet an American Team at Foil, Sabre, and Épée. He sailed for New York on Nov. 5, 1921. The British Team won two out of the three matches fought against the Americans, namely, with the Épée and the Sabre; but lost the Foil; so missing the Trophy by 21 bouts to 25. Capt. Wand-Tetley participated in all three matches, the only one in the Team who did so, and he won 5 out of 7 bouts - a brilliant achievement!
      At The Hague, 19-23 May, 1922, he fenced on the British Services side, in the European Military Team and Individual Championships, when the following countries were represented: Britain, France, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, and Czecho-Slovakia.
      Capt. Wand-Tetley gained 8th place in the European Individual Championships out of 70 competitors.
      In Paris, 1 and 2 June, 1922, he fenced, in the British Services Team, against France, Belgium, and Holland.
      At Olympia, London, 1922, he won the Officers' Services Foil Championship.
      Having completed his special work at Aldershot, he rejoined his Regiment, stationed at Tidworth.
      He left Southampton, 14 Sept., 1923, for a six months' Tour of duty in South Africa, to organise the Physical Training of the Defence Forces in the Union, and to train the personnel, being granted the Temporary rank of Major during the Tour. The first two months were occupied touring the country, giving lectures at Training Camps, Universities, and Schools. The next three months were spent at Roberts Heights, Pretoria, training a class of 35 Officers and N.C.O's, as Physical Training Instructors. The six months' Tour was then extended to nine months, and a second class, which also included 2 N.C.O's from the South African Police, was trained. A Report, with Suggestions for the future organisation of Physical Training in the Union Defence Forces, was submitted at the conclusion of the Tour.
      He returned to England, July, 1924; and was posted to the 1st Bn. The Wiltshire Regt., Tidworth, August, 1924.
      On 5th June, 1925, Capt. Wand-Tetley won the Army Foil Championship at the Royal Tournament, Olympia. On 1st November, 1925, he was appointed Superintendent, Physical Training, Eastern Command.
      Permanent address, c/o Mrs. J. Tetley, The Lodge, Winchester. [Curtis]
    • Brigadier T. H. Wand-Tetley, C.B.E., Inspector of Physical Training at the War Office from 1939 to 1944. died recently at his home in Jersey.
      Educated at Eastbourne College and Sandhurst he was gazetted to The Wiltshire Regiment in 1910 and served continuously until his retirement in 1944. It was while he was a prisoner of war between 1914 and 1918 that he studied closely every known system of physical education and formulated ideas which later were to benefit physical training in the Army. His service was almost wholly spent with the Army Physical Training Corps culminating with his appointment as Inspector of Physical Training during the critical war years. In 1923 he was sent to South Africa, where he laid the foundations of a sound basis of physical training in that country, which testified to the high opinion everyone had of his technical ability,
      In 1927 he introduced into physical training in the Army the best of the Danish system, which with few modifications remains unchanged to-day. During the war he saw the necessity of training soldiers physically for the particular arm of the service, and basic and battle physical training was introduced. His greatest contribution to the Army and to the country was his work with sub-standard recruits which he started at his own depôt in 1933 with a squad of recruits who had been rejected for Army service on account of their being below the required physical standards.
      So successful was his course of remedial physical training that two physical development depôts were opened before the war and three Army physical development centres during the war. This work, which was carried out in close cooperation with Army doctors qualified in physical medicine, resulted in many thousands of young substandard soldiers being upgraded to higher medical categories. This experiment also forged the link between the physical training experts and the medical profession which he had been fostering for many years.
      Brigadier Ward-Tetley was himself an outstanding athlete, representing Great Britain at fencing and also in the "modern" pentathlon at the 1920 Olympic Games. He also played hockey for the Army and for his country, and his association with Army boxing, and amateur boxing generally, continued throughout his career. His wide technical knowledge of all physical and recreational training matters resulted in his advice being sought by people from all over the world and much of his leisure time was given to serving on committees and voluntary organizations such as the Central Council of Physical Recreation, National Association of Boys Clubs, &c,
      On his retirement in 1944 he was appointed to the Ministry of Health, where his services were used in connexion with the remedial side of hospitals and convalescent homes. Truly he can be said to have devoted his whole life to the cause of physical fitness and be will long be remembered for his charm and modesty in passing to others the credit for so much of his own personal achievements in the world of physical education. [The Times, 14 Feb 1956]
    • Christies: Sale: Thurday October 6, 1955: English and Continental Furniture, Porcelain, Clocks, Objects of Art, and Eastern Rugs and Carpets, the property of Brigadier T. H. Wand-Tetley, C.B.E., including a pair of giltwood mirrors, in the style of Thomas Johnson, and Adam mahogany sideboard and a pair of urns on pedestals and an 18th century English mahogany commode. [The Times, 27 Sep 1955] [NB previous sale of effects at Sothebys, Jan 1946]
    Person ID I1403  Tatham | Heathcote branch | Spouse
    Last Modified 05 Sep 2014 

    Father Ernest Wand,   b. abt Sep 1865, Grantham Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 01 Oct 1938, Oxhey Golf Course, Oxhey Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 73 years) 
    Mother Emily Jane Lawes Harrison,   b. abt Aug 1864, Marlborough Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 22 Jun 1948, 8 Freeland Rd, Ealing Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 83 years) 
    Marriage abt Nov 1888  Totnes Find all individuals with events at this location   [25] 
    Divorced 1903    [26] 
    • Case 3736 (1903): Wand (Emily Jane Lawes) v. Wand (Ernest). [i.e. her petition] [TNA: divorces & matrimonial causes 1858-1903]
    Notes 
    • Other children:
      - Clarence Ernest Wand(-Tetley): b. Paignton 1889; birth reg Totnes 3Q1889; resid Esplanade Hotel, Paignton Apr 1891; resid Newton Abbott Grammar School Mar 1901; resid Wildwood, Flask Rd, Enfield, Undergraduate, Oxford Univ, Apr 1911; educated Eastbourne College and Oriel College, Oxford University. Gained his Hockey Half Blue. Played for Harlequins Rugby 1st XV., 1909-1912. Lieut, Lancashire Fusiliers in WW1; killed in action in Turkey 22 Aug 1915;
      - Winifred Emily Wand(-Tetley): b. Paignton 02 Apr 1894; birth reg Totnes 2Q1894; resid Esplanade Hotel, Paignton, Mar 1901; resid Wildwood, Flask Rd, Enfield, Apr 1911; marr reg Winchester 2Q1919 to John D Davidson; death reg South Glamorgan 1Q1983;
      - Joseph Tetley Wand(-Tetley): b. Paignton 19 Sep 1898; birth reg Totnes 4Q1898; resid Esplanade Hotel, Paignton, Mar 1901; resid Wildwood, Flask Rd, Enfield, Apr 1911; 1914-1918 Lieut Northants Regt; address Sep 1921 Park Farm, Lurgashall, Petworth; marr reg East Ashford 2Q1923 to Mabel Joan Miles (d 1972); farmer in Jun 1948, co-executor of his mother's will; died 25 Sep 1988.
    • All 4 children changed name from Wand to Wand-Tetley abt 1911-1912, following their mother's marriage to Joseph Tetley 1Q1909.
    Family ID F0884  Family Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Cécile Florence Tatham,   b. 20 Sep 1894, Pietermaritzburg, Natal Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 09 Jan 1980, Jersey Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 85 years) 
    Marriage 26 Aug 1918  St John & St Philip, The Hague, Netherlands Find all individuals with events at this location   [8, 13] 
    • The wedding took place at the English Church, The Hague, Holland, preceded by the Civil Ceremony at the Town Hall, at 11 a.m. the same day. The reception following the wedding was held at the British Legation, at the invitation of Sir Walter and Lady Susan Townley. [Curtis]
    • married 29 Aug per Curtis & TFSA; 26 Aug per The Times.
    Children 
    +1. Peter Michael Wand-Tetley,   b. 02 Feb 1920, Red House, Heath End, Farnham, Surrey Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 16 Mar 2003, Wiltshire Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 83 years)
    +2. John Inglis Wand-Tetley,   b. 04 May 1922, Cottesmore, Fleet Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 28 Dec 1974, Bowers Farm, Coleshill, Amersham Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 52 years)
    +3. Nigel Clarence Wand-Tetley,   b. 08 Feb 1924, Roberts Heights, Pretoria, South Africa Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 05 Feb 1972, Dover Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 47 years)
    Last Modified 01 Apr 2013 
    Family ID F0098  Family Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Sources 
    1. [S32] Birth Certificate.

    2. [S02] BMD Index, birth reg Totnes, 4Q1890.

    3. [S01] Census, UK, 1891.
      age 6m b Paignton

    4. [S01] Census, UK, 1901.
      age 10 b Paignton

    5. [S07] Other Sources, British Olympic Association.
      b 26 Feb 1898
      website accessed 22 Jan 2009, no longer accessible 29 Sep 2012

    6. [S07] Other Sources, Michael Scott.
      'Special Forces Commander', Pen & Sword, 2011

    7. [S05] The Times, obituary, 14 Feb 1956.
      died recently at his home in Jersey

    8. [S04] H Curtis: Notes for a Pedigree of the Tathams of Co. Durham.

    9. [S29] Medal Index Cards WW1.

    10. [S07] Other Sources, British Olympic Association.
      b 26 Feb 1890
      website accessed 22 Jan 2009

    11. [S35] London Gazette, 29 Oct 1912.

    12. [S35] London Gazette, p. 8388, 20 Oct 1914.

    13. [S05] The Times, marriage notice, 09 Sep 1918.

    14. [S35] London Gazette, 11 Jun 1920.

    15. [S25] Electoral Registers.

    16. [S05] The Times, 23 Jan 1928.

    17. [S05] The Times, 03 Jun 1929.

    18. [S37] Army Lists & Records, Army List, 1935.

    19. [S05] The Times, 24 Apr 1936.

    20. [S05] The Times, 04 Apr 1939.

    21. [S05] The Times, 22 Jan 1946.
      sale of some effects at Sothebys

    22. [S05] The Times, 02 Nov 1946.
      forthcoming marriage son Peter

    23. [S05] The Times, 27 Feb 1955.
      sale of effects

    24. [S48] Will, 09 Aug 1955.
      Judicial Greffe, Probate Division.
      ref D/Y/B1/34/24
      Jersey Heritage Trust website accessed 01 Dec 2009

    25. [S02] BMD Index, marriage reg Totnes, 4Q1888.

    26. [S08] Family Trees & Websites, Jane's Genealogy Pages.
      rootsweb posting [page not available 20 Jun 2014]


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