Coltman, William Harold (1891–1974), soldier and gardener, was born at The Common, Tatenhill, Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, on 17 November 1891, the fourth son of Charles Coltman (1851/2–1903), gardener's labourer, and his wife, Annie, née Gopsill. He left school aged thirteen, and helped his mother to support the family after his father's death, working as a journeyman market gardener. On 8 January 1913 he married, at Burton upon Trent record office, ...
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William Harold Coltman (1891–1974) by unknown photographer The Staffordshire Regiment Museum
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Richard Davenport-Hines
Smithers, Sir Peter Henry Berry Otway (1913–2006), intelligence officer, politician, and gardener, was born on 9 December 1913 at Donisthorpe House, Moor Allerton, Yorkshire, the only child of Captain, later Lieutenant-Colonel, Harry Otway Hirsch Smithers (1877–1941), an officer in the Bedfordshire regiment, and his wife, ...
