Dennis Roberts BOULTER

Commemorated:
1. Book:	The (1921) Masonic Roll of Honour 1914-1918	Pg.117
2. Memorial:	The (1940) Scroll - WW1 Roll of Honour	56D GQS

Awards & Titles:

Early Life :

Born 24th February 1875, in Melton Mowbray, England. Third child, first son of John and Ellen Boulter – him a Wesleyan Minister and they both native of Yorkshire. His parents moved around, perhaps relating to the ministrations of his work. Certainly, by 1874 they had moved to Leicestershire, followed by a couple of years in Cheshire and by 1881 to Barton, Gloucestershire. At the time Dennis was 7, he had two elder sisters – Ella and Jessie – and three younger siblings – two brothers John and Alfred and youngest sister, Ada. They all lived at 6 Falkner Street in Barton.

At the time of the 1881 census, Dennis was a Scholar and, moving forward, we see on the 1891 census he has flown the nest aged 17 and now located at 21 High Street, Kidderminster working for Master Draper, Frederick Peacock. He and 3 others are recorded as being Apprentices and resident together with a Milliner and Dressmaker. There is also a Jack Boulter listed here, who may be a family member, but unclear if in his immediate family (perhaps a cousin?). By 1893, Dennis must have wanted to expand his opportunities and perhaps see a bit more than the inside of a shop.

Education & Career :

Stock Inspector (1911) Uganda.

Service Life:

Campaigns:

The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.

Unit / Ship / Est.: Not Yet Known

Action : No Data

No Data has been recorded for the final action, because none has yet been found. If you have any information to offer, please contact the Project Team so we can add.

He enlisted into the Royal Marines Light Infantry on 20th December 1893 (his P File exists at the National Archives). Unable to find his service records, particularly relating to his time with the RMLI, but his medal chit for WW1 betrays that by that time he was or had been both a Private Soldier (Regimental Number 12079) of the East African Labour Corps (also known as Military Labour Corps MLC) and a Farrier Sergeant (5035) of the East African Veterinary Corps. There is confusion over his rank, probably because of his transferring between different corps, but there is no listing to state how and when he was promoted to Lieutenant. Interestingly, it shows that he was in War Theatre 4a (Egypt) on 11.11.14, so served throughout the whole war and awarded a 1915 Star, British War Medal and the Victory Medal. As part of his career (military or otherwise), he evidently moved to East Africa. By 1911, he was listed in the records of Victoria Nyanza Lodge No. 3492 as has having been a “Stock Inspector” resident at Entebbe, Uganda when he was initiated into Freemasonry.

Detail :

Great Niece recalls anecdotally that he was a Stockman in East Africa and joined the Veterany Corps. Before East Africa he fought in Boer War, and before that he was one of the first "pony express" riders to ride across Australia. He was reputed to of been a "horse whisperer". He died of Black Water fever, and was buried in the Catholic cemetery in Mombasa.

Masonic :

Type	Lodge Name and No.	Province/District :
Mother :	Victoria Nyanza No. 3492 E.C.	East Africa

Initiated	Passed	Raised
4th December 1911	2nd January 1912	5th February 1912

Source :

The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The (UK) National Archives
Ancestry.co.uk - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History online
ugle.org.uk - The records of the United Grand Lodge of England including the Library and Museum of Freemasonry

Additional Source:

Founder Researchers : Paul Masters & Mike McCarthy
Researcher : Bruce Littley
Family : Kim Hill

Last Updated: 2019-01-05 06:49:54

Commemorated:

Awards & Titles: