Page 4 - Leonard Tebbenham

FAMILY BACKGROUND

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Leonard Tebbenham was born January 23 1918 in Kensington, London. His mother was
Susannah, originally from Suffolk, and his father was Henry, born in Reigate, Surry. Henry was a
professional soldier who served for 24 years with the Seaforth highlanders in India, Crete, Sudan
and finally on the western front, where he was wounded near Neuve Chapelle in 1914 and
evacuated to ‘Blighty’.

Henry and Susannah married in 1908 in Karachi (then in British India); they had five children;
Susan and George, who both died in infancy in India, Leonard’s elder sister Rose, who married a
clergyman and younger brother Jack, who served in the REME and went ashore on D-Day with
HQ No. 4 Commando Brigade Royal Marines on Juno beach. Jack also served with the Indian
Engineers and returned to the UK in 1946 via the notorious Deolali transit camp, from where came
the terms ‘going doolally‘ and ‘doolally tap‘, meaning going crazy and crazy fever!. Jack practised
as a consultant civil engineer after WW2 and died in 1991 aged 72.

MORE SERVICE CONNECTIONS

Apart from Leonard’s father serving in the Army, two of his uncles served in the Royal Navy.
Uncle Samuel enlisted in 1886; saw action in 1890 at Witu in East Africa and later in the South
African War; he achieved the rank of POI but died prematurely from pneumonia in 1904 aged 35.
Uncle William enlisted in 1894, served on various ships, achieved the rank of CPO (Telegraphy)
and was demobilised in 1919, then joined HM Coastguard Service.

Leonard’s first cousin George Charles also enlisted in the Royal Navy in 1903, served on
dreadnoughts and cruisers, reached the rank of Chief Yeoman of Signals. He left the service in
1922, then becoming a postman in North West London. Many families of that period had strong
connections with the armed forces and Leonard’s was no exception.

GROWING UP & EDUCATION

Leonard was a boy scout and earned his badges. After primary education he continued at the
LCC Paddington Technical Institute between 1931 and 1934. He won a prize for Mathematics and
Engineering in 1933 and completed the course with first class results as a letter of commendation
shows.

Leonard went on to matriculate at the University of London, then work and study in the Physics
Department of the Northampton Polytechnic in London passing his intermediate examinations in
1939.

He made a good impression as summarised in the letter of reference seen later in this biography.
A picture of Leonard and his girlfriend Blodwen was taken at Seaford in 1938, and the only photo I
have of both the brothers Leonard & Jack together was taken at home in North Kensington,
London.