Thaddeus Abberley

=Overview= Thaddeus Abberley is a member of the Templars, a battle-hardened soldier whose origins date back to the late 19th Century & the Great War. He looks to be in his mid-thirties with brown hair and a trimmed beard. He has grey eyes, within which the '1,000 yard stare' is evident, whilst his skin is pale and worn.

=History= Split into 3 sections; 1887-1914, 1914-1918, 1983-2013

1887-1914: The Young Thaddeus
Upon the 5th May 1887 Elizabeth Abberley, wife of Jeremiah Abberley, went into labour. At 0231hrs on the 6th May, during a thunderstorm, a son was born to them, their third child. The babe was to be named Thaddeus Algernon Thomas Abberley, a clumsy monicker which would lead to his childhood nickname of 'Ta-ta'. Thaddeus lived his younger years at the family house near Emsworth, tucked just inside the border of Hampshire. A stones throw from the house and it's small, modest grounds lay the family business, a horse stud famed for its prize-winning horses. As a child Thaddeus spent just as much time in the saddle as he did on his own two feet. From the tender age of five he was tutored at the village school where he was regarded by the teacher, one James Privett, to be of 'adequate intellect, certainly not inferior but neither superior'. As almost every child does, Thaddeus hated school, except for the two subjects of English and History. His teacher had seen service during the Zulu Wars and had been with General Garnet Wolesly during the Anglo-Egyptian War of 1882, where, as a lowly subaltern, he had served as a junior aide. Under his tutelage Thaddeus's love of British history bloomed and he devoured every book his teacher could find on everything from the vikings to the Napoleonics and everything inbetween.

After his fifteenth birthday, Thaddeus's family moved to Lewes in Sussex after Jeremiah Abberley was crippled when a stallion lashed out with its hooves. Leaving the business to be handled by his employees, Jeremiah and his family lived off of its profits comfortably.

From 1906 to 1910 Thaddeus was apprenticed to a barrister, a Scotsman named Alan McClintock, as a clerk, his father having forced Thaddeus to make his own way in the world. From 1910 to 1914 Thaddeus worked as the under-clerk to McClintock's clerk, earning a small enough wage to see him by on top of the annuity his father had granted him. He married a local girl, Rose Beaumont, in 1913 after courting her for just over a year and, in 1912, joined the Sussex Yeomanry, a territorial cavalry unit, alongside his father.

When war was declared in 1914 both Thaddeus and his father were called upon to serve, his father serving as an administrative officer due to his crippled leg whilst Thaddeus went to France along with his Troop.

1914-1918: The Great War
Arriving in France during November 1914, Thaddeus and his Troop served with distinction in France through December of 1914 and into early 1915, using their mobility as cavalry to mount daring raids on German communication lines and clashing with German cavalry picquets. These raids began the process of hardening the young Thaddeus to the horrors of warfare. He killed his first German soldier on the 29th November during a raid on a small German column which was transporting wounded men to the rear for transport back to Germany. The young Thaddeus rode down a young German soldier, blinding the youth with a backswing that broke the boys nose and slashed his eyes into a wet pulp. The horror of that moment stayed with Thaddeus for years.

Mid-Spring 1915 the 1/1st Sussex Yeomanry was withdrawn from the line, with Thaddeus and a handful of other men being transferred into the 2nd Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment to provide it with some experienced NCOs. With the transfer came a promotion for the young Lance-Corporal. As a Corporal he commanded No.4 Section in A Company. Until 1916 Corporal Abberley fought in almost every engagement the Royal Sussex Regiment & his Company were involved in. During this time the young mans heart turned figuratively to stone. With the weekly, at times daily, loss of comrades, the young man became inured to the hardships and horrors of warfare. Whilst a popular NCO he found himself drifting apart from the camaraderie of his fellow soldiers.

On 3rd June 1916 he was transferred to the 13th (3rd South Downs) Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment. Entering D Company as a Sergeant, he took over No.3 Platoon, the unit he would command for the next two years. The move was tempered with horror when the D Company of the 13th Battalion, along with the 11th & 12th Battalions, assault the lines before Richebourg on June 30th as a diversion to the assault planned for the following day. The three Battalions of the Royal Sussex advanced against heavy fire yet managed to take the front line of trenches and then the second line which they held briefly for a half hour before low ammunition & heavy casualties forced them to retreat. This day would forever be remembered as 'The Day Sussex Died' but the tragic loss of 1400 soldiers was overshadowed by the Somme Offensive, leaving the battle of Richebourg to be largely forgotten.

This engagement, so bitterly contested, saw Abberley receive the Military Medal for his actions when, wounded by a bullet that had entered his left shoulder and punched out the other side, leaving his left arm useless, he and his platoon held the section of a captured trench against repeated counter-attacks until, out of ammunition and their morale almost broken, D Company of the 13th Battalion retired, with the now unconscious Sergeant Abberley carried away by members of his platoon. Patched up in a field hospital, Thaddeus was sent back to England to recuperate.

This was the first time he'd been in England since he'd left in November 1914. The man who came back to Lewes unsettled his wife and neighbours - the grey eyes, once filled with humour were now a blank slate that stared through people. Towards the end of his convalescence the old Thaddeus began to emerge, but it was too late. Whilst the wound was still sore and covered in pink scar tissue he was ordered to report for duty and thus, in September 1916, he returned to France and his Platoon.

Until June 1918 Thaddeus fought in multiple engagements and took part in the spring fighting 1918. May 23rd saw the 13th Battalion reduced to a cadre strength and on August 14th the Battalion was disbanded. Abberley was to be assigned, along with his platoon, to the 1/4 Battalion, when fate took a hand and he was assigned to the Sussex Yeomanry instead, now the 16th Battalion (Sussex Yeomanry) of the Royal Sussex Regiment. On the 21st August the Battalion was involved in the Second Battle of the Somme where, on the 26th August near Arras, they encountered a line of hastily dug German trenches.

As B Company consolidated ready to push on they searched the dugouts, of which one was heavily boarded up. Intrigued B Company's Captain, one Lloyd Davies, examined the obstruction and, when pressing his ear against the boards, claimed he could hear a strange buzzing. He ordered Sergeant Abberley and two of his men, James Berwick and Bernard Smythe, to investigate further whilst he advanced with the rest of the Company. Later in the day he returned to see what Abberley and his two men had uncovered but the dugout had collapsed on itself and the three men had disappeared. Davies and his men dug at the ground, trying to uncover the dugout but each time their shovels dug a hole the earth would fill it back in. Registering the help of some Royal Engineer Sappers they tried again but despite their efforts the ground had literally swollen up Abberley and his men. When Davies made his report it was forwarded up the chain of command until it finally reached the Department of Paranormal Activities. Davies and his men were ordered to never speak of the incident ever again - a futile order for Davies, and a number of his men, died when they were strafed by German aircraft on 4th September 1918.

1983-2013: He Came From Agartha...
On the 2nd January a man emerged from Agartha in Ealdwic Station. Nearby witnesses claimed he appeared disorientated and lost, clad in a very old looking brown uniform and equipment, clutching a battered old rifle. He was led by Templar operatives to the Templar headquarters where he was detained and questioned. After a medical assessment, Abberley was carefully brought up to date, filling in the lost 65 years of his life. With his old passion for history he quickly soaked up a lot of the information although it took him four years to adjust to his new life. By 1990 he was serving as a soldier in one of the Templar Commando teams, supporting Field Agents when they required assistance. He has stayed very much to himself over the years, making few friendships. His inability to age marks him out amongst other members of the Templar organisation as does his unwillingness to socialise. He was placed under observation which was only lifted in January 2013 and was questioned and assessed regularly.

Present
Thaddeus lives in a small flat in Ealdwic on the top floor of an old Edwardian building. It's small compact size, just a bedroom, living room cum kitchen and a bathroom, might seem uncomfortable for most but for him, having spent so many years living in open trenches, it is pure luxury. From this flat he poses as an author, writing novels based on his own experiences during the Great War under a variety of pseudonyms. However he is ready for deployment with his Section at a moments notice.

=Family= The immediate family of Thaddeus Abberley consisted of 7 people;

Jeremiah & Elizabeth Abberley
Jeremiah Abberley - 1861-1917: Born 1861 to Harold & Clarissa Abberley, inherited family business, a successful horse stud, in 1882 aged 21 upon fathers untimely death. Married Elizabeth Beaumont in 1884. Between them they sired 5 children. Jeremiah ran family business until 1902 when crippled by a stallions kick. Family moved to Lewes in Sussex where they lived on profits from family business. In 1912 Jeremiah joined the Sussex Yeomanry along with his third child and in 1914, due to his crippled leg, he remained in England as an administrative officer for the Sussex Yeomanry. Died from a heart-attack, January 12th 1917.

Elizabeth Abberley (neé Beaumont) - 1868-1915: Born to James and Ellouise Beaumont, their fourth daughter and ninth child. Married Jeremiah Abberley in 1884 and lived with him in Hampshire until 1903 when the family moved to Lewes. Bore 5 children to Jeremiah. Died December 1914 from pneumonia.

The Abberley Children: Titus, Christine, Thaddeus, Charlotte, Rosemary
Titus Abberley - 1885-1968: First child of Jeremiah & Elizabeth. At age 18 took over day-to-day running of family business and continued to run it until his death in 1968 - due to the military need for horses he was not called up for service. Married in 1910 to Florence Flockton who bore him three children.

Christine Bond (neé Abberley) - 1886-1940: First daughter of Jeremiah & Elizabeth. Married aged 18 in 1904 to Alexander Bond, a a prominent banker in London. Sired two children. Died during bombing raid on London, September 12th 1940.

Thaddeus Abberley - 1887 - present: Third child of Jeremiah & Elizabeth.

Charlotte Winton (neé Abberley) - 1890-1917: Second daughter of Jeremiah & Elizabeth. Married aged 19 in 1909 to Lieutenant Christopher Winton of the Grenadier Guards. Sired two children. Lt. Winton died in 1916 during the First Somme. Charlotte followed her husband to the grave in 1917, killed by her grief.

Rosemary Abberley - 1894-1948: Fifth child of Jeremiah & Elizabeth. Never married. Served as a nurse in France during Great War. Post-war became a nurse at Greater Ormond Street hospital where she worked until her death in 1948.