Daniel Tomlin, known as Danny or ‘Little’ Danny was born in Boxmoor, Hertfordshire on Friday, 17th January 1879 and baptised at St John’s Church in the village eight months later, on Wednesday, 10th September. He was the youngest of five children born to Frederick Thomas Tomlin and Elizabeth Walker. The children were Emma Jane, Frederick Thomas, Fanny Elizabeth and Daniel as well as two unknown children who died in infancy.

When he was born, Danny’s father Frederick was suffering from consumption and he died in 1881 when Danny was only two-years-old.

Daniel Tomlin c1915 (Courtesy: The Hertfordshire, Hemel Hempstead Gazette and West Herts Advertiser)

Little Danny began his education in March 1885 when he entered Boxmoor JMI school, where he successfully completed all seven ‘standards’ by the time he left on the 5th March 1892 aged thirteen. Three years later, he started work with John Dickinson & Co. Limited where he worked for twenty-one years as a Clerk in the Stock Department.

By 1901 Danny was living with his mother on Horsecroft Road, Boxmoor and he continued to live with her until in late 1915 he joined the Colours. He enlisted with the Duke of Cambridge's Own (Middlesex) Regiment and was posted to the 23rd (Service) Battalion (2nd Football) at Cranleigh south of Aldershot to undergo basic training.

There were two ‘Football’ battalions in the Great War; the 17th and 23rd (Service) Battalions Middlesex Regiment and as their name suggests, the core of recruits came from the ranks of professional football. Needless to say, the Battalions fared well in inter-company competitions and over the first months of 1916 the 17th won the Divisional Football tournament, romping through the rounds with victories of 9-0, 6-0 and 6-0 in the semi-final, before winning 11-0 in the final, against 3/4 Brigade Royal Field Artillery.

Their ranks contained such footballing legends as Viv (Vivian) Woodward of Spurs and Chelsea who captained the GB team to Olympic golds in 1908 and 1912 and 2nd Lieutenant Walter Tull, thought to be the first black officer in the British Army, who was killed in action in March 1918.

Danny went to France with the 2nd Footballers in the first week of May 1916 as part of the 123rd Brigade under the orders of the 41st Division. The Battalion concentrated between Hazebrouck and Bailleul before moving south where it saw its first significant action.

Danny fought in the Battle of Flers-Courcelette in September 1916 and the Battle of Transloy Ridges in the following month and came through unscathed.

The Battle of Transloy was the last major offensive for the Fourth Army of the BEF on the Somme. At its conclusion, the 23rd Middlesex entrained for Godewaersvealde on the French/Belgian border on October 19th, 1916. A few days later Danny had marched with his comrades to Reninghelst about six miles west of Ypres.

Over the next month the Battalion served tours in the frontline trenches until on the 21st October the War Diary records the following events: “CENTRE BATTN. SUBSECTOR ST. ELOI [sic] 21st 2.15a.m. Zero. Artillery make a dummy raid. Concentrated fire for twenty minutes along craters and left of our line. On our front enemy makes next response; his machine guns fire about 20 rounds. Draft 4 OR   1 OR Killed”

This brief entry describes the sad end to Danny’s war as he was the OR killed by the brief burst of enemy fire. He was Killed in Action on Tuesday, 21st November 1916.

Danny’s death at the Front was greeted with disbelief and genuine grief at home in Boxmoor and even before his mother had received official confirmation, one of his friends, Thomas G. Hollands McCarthy felt moved to write an appreciation of ‘Little’ Danny’s life which was published in the Hemel Gazette. It is clear from the piece just how popular Danny was and the respect and esteem he was held in by all who knew him in the village, at Dickinsons and amongst his Company comrades in the 23rd Middlesex.

He was described as “unpretentious” and “full of gentle kindliness and considerations for the feelings of others” indeed he was depicted as “KINDLINESS ITSELF”. His old Headmaster at Boxmoor JMI School felt his loss keenly and his daughter said, “almost as much as if it was his son”. Francis St. John Badcock had already lost his youngest son Harold who was killed only four days before Danny.

His mother Elizabeth received official confirmation of Danny’s death two days before Christmas on the 23rd December 1916.

He is commemorated on the John Dickinson & Co. Limited War Memorial in Apsley.

Danny is Remembered with Honour in Voormezeele Enclosure No.3 Cemetery, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium, where he is interred in Grave XII.B.8. The inscription on his headstone, requested by his mother Elizabeth, reads: “IN GOD'S KEEPING”.

He was 37 years old when he died.

Danny was entitled to the British War Medal and the Allied Victory Medal.