Name
Anthony Frederick Wilding
31 October 1883
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
09/05/1915
31
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Captain
Royal Marines
Armoured Car Div.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Navy Star, British War Medal and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
RUE-DES-BERCEAUX MILITARY CEMETERY, RICHEBOURG-L'AVOUE
II. D. 37.
France
Headstone Inscription
None
UK & Other Memorials
Not on the Bushey Heath memorials, Trinity College WW1 War Memorial, Cambridge, Online Cenotaph, Auckland Museum
Pre War
Anthony Frederick Wilding was born in Opawa, New Zealand on 31 October 1883, the son of Frederick and Julia Wilding (nee Anthony), and one of five children. His parents had emigrated from Herefordshire, England to Christchurch, New Zealand after their marriage in 1879.
He played tennis from the age of six and was educated at William Wilson's private school for boys in Cranmer Square where he was captain of the school football team at age 12. He attended Canterbury University College for six months before coming to England in 1902 and attended a school at Hunstanton before passing the entrance exam to study law at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a B.A in June 1905, later returning to New Zealand to join his father's law practice. He returned to England and was called to the Bar at the Inner Temple in June 1906.
Meanwhile as well as playing cricket and rugby, he was developing his tennis game as a member of the Cambridge University Lawn Tennis Club. He had won a singles title at the age of 17 in the Canterbury Championships (NZ) and, whilst at Cambridge, he entered public tournaments in Sheffield and Brighton, winning the mixed doubles there with Dorothea Douglass (reigning Wimbledon Ladies Champion) in 1903. He completed at Wimbledon in 1904 but lost in the first round, having more success in the Welsh Championship, and the Shropshire and Scottish Championships He was part of the Australasia team in the Davis Cup of 1905 and won tournaments in Hamburg and Homburg. From 1906 to1907 he played tennis tournaments in Europe and England and in winter months worked as an English teacher and tennis trainer for aristocratic families in Hungary and Bohemia. Although his tennis continued he qualified as a Barrister and Solicitor in New Zealand but won the Wimbledon singles title for four straight years from 1910 to 1913.
Wartime Service
At the outbreak of the war he joined the Royal Marines and was gazetted a second lieutenant in early October 1914. After only a few days he was attached to the Intelligence Corps and then, at the end of October he joined the Royal Naval Armoured Car Division in the battlefields of northern France.
Anthony was killed in action on 9 May 1915 at 4.45 pm during the Battle of Aubers Ridge at Neuve-Chapelle, France when a shell exploded on the roof of the dug-out he was sheltering in. He was originally buried near where he fell, but was later re-interred at Rue-des-Berceaux Military Cemetery in Richebourg-L'Avoue, France.
Additional Information
James Bishop Hartley, solicitor attorney of Frederick Wilding, obtained probate of Anthony's estate in London on 11 January 1915 with effects of £651 12s 6d.
Seemingly the only connection to Bushey Heath is Maxine Elliott who he had been dating and was soon to marry. She was a Broadway star and then living at Hartsbourne Manor, Bushey Heath.
More information can be found courtesy of the Bushey First World War Commemoration Project (www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk)
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, Dianne Payne - www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk, en.wikipedia.org, www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph
