AS part of our coverage of events before, during and immediately after the Great War of 1914 to 1918, we have been pain your respects to those who gave their life for their country.
As we enter, November, there were three men, with Thurrock connections that died.
One of them was The Rev Stephen John Sullings
ARMY CHAPLAINS’ DEPARTMENT
DIED ON 21 NOVEMBER 1915 AGE 47
BIRMINGHAM (LODGE HILL) CEMETERY
WARWICKSHIRE UNITED KINGDOM
Son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Sullings, of Stanford-le-Hope, Essex; husband of the late Edith Sullings.
Stephen John Sullings (son of Thomas H Sullings and Emma Margaret Massey) was born Abt. March 1868 in Stanford Le Hope, Essex, England, and died November 21, 1915 in King’s Norton, Birmingham, England.He married Edith Elliott on Abt. March 1897 in Edmonton District, Middlesex, England.
In approx 1890 Stephen John Sullings was called to go to Australia by the Church after being rejected by the Wesleyan Conference as a minister.
Commenced to the Wesleyan Church in 1892 in Australia and served for 9 years under the Victorian Conference. After his nine years in Australia he was accepted by theWesleyan Conference in the United Kingdom and was appointed to the Sussex Mission, where he served for three years, followed by similar terms in the South London Mission, Hull, Burnley and Norwich.
In 1915. the Rev Stephen John Sullings was made a full-tine chaplain with the 54th (East Anglian) Division, and was sent to Gallipoli. There he contracted enteric fever and, after being brought home to England, he died on November 21st, 1915, in the Military Hospital in Birmingham.
According to his WWI medal roll he was attached to Royal Army Chaplains Depot, and first served in Eqypt.
Inscription on Gravestone:
In Memory of Chaplain 4th Class THE REV. STEPHEN JOHN SULLINGS Army Chaplains’ Department attd. 54th East Anglian Div., Royal Army Medical Corps who died age 47 on 21 November 1915 Son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Sullings, of Stanford-le-Hope, Essex; husband of the late Edith Sullings. Remembered with honour BIRMINGHAM (LODGE HILL) CEMETERY
More About Stephen John Sullings:
Census 1: 1871, Living at home.
Census 2: 1881, Living at home.
Census 3: 1911, Living in Burnley, Lancashire with family. RevCapt in RACC 54th.
Naturalization: June 09, 1901, Rev S T Sullings, Clergyman travelling from Melbourne, Australia arriving in Southampton, England on the Prinzregent Luitpold with Mrs Sullings, G Sullings aged 3 and M Sullings aged 5 months.
Residence: 1890, Student at Queen’s College, Melboure, Australia..
More About Stephen John Sullings and Edith Elliott:
Marriage: Abt. March 1897, Edmonton District, Middlesex, England.
Children of Stephen John Sullings and Edith Elliott are:
Eva Kathleen Willis Sullings, b. Abt. 1898, d. date unknown.
Stephen Eliot Sullings, b. Abt. 1901, d. date unknown.
Winifred Averil Sullings, b. Abt. June 1905, Greenwich, London, England, d. date unknown.
Information courtesy of www.genealogy.com
