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Leonard was born in Rodborough, Gloucestershire on 28th March 1889 at 04:10am. He was the second son of Hyrum White (born 1851) and Sabin White, nee Leonard (born 1849). Leonard was brother to Purlie (Purl), Charles Henry, Minnie Teresa, Rose Ellen (Nelle), Charles, Wilfred and Arthur. By 1893 at the age of 4 he and his family had moved to Woolaston, Gloucestershire where he grew up and attended the local school. On 29th August 1898 tragedy overcame the family when Leonard's father, Hyrum died in Woolaston at the age of 47. After his father's death the family moved to Nailsborough, Gloucestershire and took up residence here. The 1901 census records that Leonard was residing in Watledge Road, Nailsborough with his mother and three younger brothers Charles, Wilfred and Arthur. Once more tragedy hit the family when in the spring of 1910 his brother Wilfred died of Valvular Heart Disease at the age of 16.
The 19011 census records Leonard as a private in the Royal Army Medical Corps based at Aldershot. He entered the war when, as a reservist, he was called back into the Army on the 20th August 1914 in Stroud at the age of 25 years. By 1917 Leonard had risen from the rank of Private to the rank of Corporal. He never did marry.
At the time of Leonard's death his mother and sister Purlie owned and ran the King's Arms Hotel, 14-15 Fore Street, Buckfastleigh, Devon.
Survivors of the sinking of HMHS 'Salta' who visited his mother told her he could have saved his own life but with selfless acts of courage on more than one occasion returned to help another. If there is any truth in this it is not known, but it is a comforting thought that a member of the RAMC and my family was prepared to help others above himself.
Leonard White was my Great Uncle on my mother's side of the family. Leonard's sister Purlie White married in Buckfastleigh my grandfather Ernest Lyddon Bennett (born in Buckfastleigh). Their only daughter was my mother Helene Purl Bennett who married my father Derek Tom Vickery in Earley, Reading, Berkshire.
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