William Edmund Hume-Spry was born in Simla, India on 20 July 1879. He was the second son of Major Frederick Edmund Spry of the Indian Staff Corps and the former Florence Constance Johnstone.
Recieving his education on England at the Blundell School, Tiverton and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, he was commissioned 2nd lieutenant in 1899 and placed on the unattached list for the Indian Army. Briefly attached to the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, he received his appointment to the 18th Bengal Infantryin 1900.
He was promoted as follows:
Lieutenant - 1901
Joined Supply and Transport Corps (Indian Army) - 1903
Captain - 1908
Supply & Transport Officer 5th Class (Indian Army) - 1908
Supply & Transport Officer 4th Class (Indian Army) - 1912
Major - 1915
Assistant Director of Supplies & Transport (Indian Army) - 1919
Lieutenant-Colonel - 1925
Colonel - 1929
Temporary Brigadier General - 1930
Deputy Director of Supplies & Transport (Indian Arny) - 1930
Retires - 1932
Air Raid Precautions Organizer & Sub-Controller, Battle - 1945
He took part in the Delhi Durbar of 1911 and was presented the medal for that event.
Hume=Spry saw active service in France with the Indian Army Expeditionary Force in 1914 and in Mesopotamia in 1915. He received a Menion in Despatches on 16 October 1916 and was subsequently awarded the Distinguished Service Order in December 1916; He was also entitled to the 1915 Star and the British War and Victory Medals.
According to the 1927 edition of Who's Who - India Hume Spy saw further active service during the 3rd Anglo - Afghan War and therefore would have been entitled to the 1909 India General Service Medal with the clasp "Afghanistan N.W.F. - 1919". I have not been able to confirm this via other sources at this time.
Hume-Spry marries Violet Ellen McCreery at St. Pual's Church, Mauritius on 21 January 1902. The couple would have three children. A son, Charles Albert would die in infancy on Mauritius. A first daughter Alice was born in India in 1905, while a second girl, Violet was born in Reading, Berkshire in 1907.
Hume-Spry settled in Battle, Sussex, after retiring from the army in 1932. During World War Two he again stepped forward to public service and took on the role of Air Raid Precautions Organizer & Sub-Controller for Battle.
Brigadier William Edmund Hume-Spry passed away at his hoe in Battle on 15 April 1955.
Cabinet Photograph
R. H, Legg - Photographer
Weston-super-Mare
Sussex, England
1899