25th County of London Cyclist Battalion
The London Regiment


Denis Aloysius W. Santler


 
Denis Aloysius W. Santler was born in Bexley Heath, Kent in 1895. His parents were Henry Dutton Santler, born 1858 in Islington, a Solicitor's Clerk, and Ellen (nee O'Sullivan) born 1868, St. Luke, London. [1901 Census]

His Medal card has him as a Private in the 25th London Regt. The India General Service Medal roll confirms he was in the 1/25th battalion of the London Regt. He received the I.G.S. Medal for service in the 3rd Afghan War in 1919. As his initial service number of 2023 was issued Dec 1914 to Jan 1915, he would have gone to India with the 25th in 1916, and most probably served in the 1917 Waziristan campaign, and possibly in the Amritsar uprising (only part of the 1/25th took part). As per his I.G.S.M. he also saw action in 1919.

He went back to work in the City of London (at the London Metal Exchange, I believe) and during the second world war was a fire warden in the city during the blitz. My grandparents had the misfortune of losing their home during the bombing in October 1940. They were living in Watford, a town to the North West of London which had no military targets and suffered little bomb damage during the war. The presumption is that a German bomber was ditching its bombs at the end of an unsuccessful raid and a string of bombs were dropped on Watford. My grandmother, who was in the house at the time, was blown out of the living room into the back garden but escaped any serious injury. She blamed her deafness in one ear on the bombing. My grandparents lived a quiet suburban life in Watford, my grandfather dying in the 1970s and my grandmother in 1982. I'm sure, like many others who served in India, he never lost his taste for curry. [This paragraph by grandson Colin Guthrie]
 

[Photo courtesy of Colin Guthrie]


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