Enter The Churchman

In late March 1916, a new young officer arrived to join 2nd Suffolk on the Western Front.
2nd Lieutenant William Murrell Lummis was newly commissioned, but military service was not unbeknown to him. Born in Coddenham near Ipswich in 1886, he enlisted in 1904 in the 11th Hussars; then still a regiment recruited from the eastern counties. By 1911, he had attained the rank of Lance Sergeant and was Regimental Quartermaster Sergeant when war was declared in 1914; the youngest in the British Army.
Upon being commissioned, he chose to serve in his country regiment; The Suffolks, and joined the 2nd Battalion when they were in billets near Ypres on 27th March 1916. He had come straight from England, bringing a draft of 39 men from the 3rd Battalion at Felixstowe.
It was from this moment that Lummis started a long association with The Suffolk Regiment. In his service, he would show gallantry, and in his retirement, he would show compassion - become a devout churchman. He would chronicle not only the history of 'his' regiment's, but many others as well. His service continued with the Regiment, for many years, and his association with it, saw his son serve in the 'Old Dozen' as well, being commissioned into 1/Suffolk in 1939.
Upon his arrival in the billets, he headed toward the Battalion HQ; distinguishable by the Battalion flag flying from a shattered doorframe. It was this flag of pale blue, with a red castle above the numeral 'XII' , that he would later present to the Regimental Museum when he retired in 1936. 

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