john fulcher mallandaine + eleanor knight
John, known as Jack, was born on 2 July 1871 in Hastings, Sussex, the son of Henry Hawkes Mallandaine and Lucy Ann New. Three years before his birth, Henry’s sister Sarah married a man named Henry Fulcher and since this is the only occurrence of the Fulcher name in the larger family tree, it is assumed that Henry named his son in honour of his brother-in-law’s family.
Shortly after his birth, Jack’s family moved to Dorset for five years before settling in Salisbury for the next ten. His father was transferred several more times — to Wolverhampton in the late 1880s and then to Leeds in 1893. Nineteen year old Jack was living in Wolverhampton with his family at the time of the 1891 Census and he may have been working for his father as his occupation was listed as Surveyor of Taxes Clerk.
He enlisted in the Imperial Yeomanry as a Private on 1 January 1900 and his Attestation papers listed his occupation as a Clerk and his address as 24 Well Close Mount, Leeds. His application for service indicates that he had previously applied to serve but was rejected as medically unfit although no further details were listed. He was described as 5’8” tall and 133 lbs with fair hair and blue eyes. He was declared fit for service and served with the 9th Company, 3rd Battalion of the Imperial Yeomany in the Second Boer War in South Africa.
On the 8 October 1900, the Leeds Mercury newspaper printed a letter from Major Hepworth of the 9th Company to a friend in Leeds. The letter was dated 10 September 1900 and was sent from Waterval Boven in the Transvaal; Major Hepworth recounted his experiences on a 16 day march from Pretoria to Standerton and wrote:
I also saw Mallandaine a Sergeant in my Company of the Leeds Rifles, who came out with the Yeomanry in January. He looked well but has grown a beard. I shall make him take it off again when he rejoins C Company.
Jack’s military records show that he served in the Cape Colony, Orange Free State and the Transvall from 28 January to 13 November 1900. He returned to England and on 12 January 1901 was ‘discharged at his own request from further services in connection with the war in South Africa.’ When the census was taken on 31 March 1901, Jack was recorded at 2 Gladstone Street in Weeke Within, Southampton and was again employed as a Clerk to Surveyor of Taxes.
He re-enlisted in the Army on 2 April 1901 in Winchester and he was appointed to the 4th Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment. On his re-enlistment forms, his age was given as 36 years and 9 months and his occupation as Clerk, employed by Herbert H. Lane of Hatherley Road in Hastings. Jack appears in the 1911 Census at 4 Hatherley Road in Winchester and his occupation was listed as a Clerk to the Surveyor of Taxes. There is no indication in his military file that he was discharged during this date and as yet there is no other explanation for his return to civilian life.
One year later, on 20 May 1912, he married Eleanor Harriet Knight at Weeke near Winchester. Eleanor, known as Ella, was born in Winchester in 1872, the youngest daughter of Thomas Knight and Charlotte Clements.
Jack appears in Warren's Winchester Directory 1913 listed as Sergeant J.F. Mallandaine, with A Company of the 4th Battalion (Territorial) Hampshire Regiment. He was promoted to Company Sergeant on 2 November 1914, Quarter Master Sergeant on 23 August 1915 and Warrant Officer Class II on the same date. Jack continued to serve throughout the First World War but due to his age, he was assigned to home duties in Winchester before being transferred to the reserves on 21 February 1917. He was officially discharged from the army on 1 April 1917 with 9 years service and he was awarded both the South Africa Medal and the Volunteer Long Service Medal.
Jack and Ella later moved from Winchester to the Cotswalds and lived in Cheltenham for many years. Ella died at Haldon on Old Bath Road in Cheltenham on 13 July 1936 and John died in Cheltenham in 1947. They did not have any children.