b. 03/10/1886 West Ham, Essex. d. 4th Q 1942 Edmonton, Middlesex.
DATE OF EM ACTION: 15/05/1912 St Margaret’s Station, Stanstead St Margarets, Hertfordshire.
David Wheal EM
David was born on 3rd October 1886 in West Ham, Essex, the fifth of six children of Henry and Maria Wheal. By the age of 5, the family had moved to Mile End in London. David gained employment on the railways as a gate porter, and by the time of the 1911 Census, he was boarding with the Logsdall’s in Stanstead Abbots, Hertfordshire. This was close to the St Margaret’s Railway Station where he was employed. Following the award of the Edward Medal, he married Mildred Elizabeth Edens on 23rd September 1916 in Stanstead Abbots. David and Mildred then moved to Wood Green, Middlesex, where David was now working as a railway foreman. David died in 1942 in Edmonton, Middlesex, aged 54.
EM CITATION:
On the morning of the 15th of May, 1912, Wheal, who was a gate porter at St. Margaret’s Station on the Great Eastern Railway, had been collecting tickets, and was waiting near the gates at the level-crossing for a train to pass. He knew that a train was approaching from the other direction and, after the last vehicle of the first train had passed, he saw an old lady, with her head bowed down, stepping in front of the oncoming train. He rushed forward and succeeded in forcing her back clear of the rails just as the locomotive was upon her. There is no doubt that she owes her life to Wheal’s prompt action performed at great peril to himself.
BURIAL LOCATION: UNKNOWN.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: UNKNOWN.