Briningham

Briningham – St Maurice’s Church : Grave of John Frankpitt Woolway

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This is the Commonwealth War Grave of John Frankpitt Woolway, located in the graveyard of St. Maurice’s Church in Briningham.

John was born in around 1889 and he got married to Clara Beatrice Laycock in Colchester on 8 June 1911 and at that point he lived at 68 Paris Street in Exeter. At the 1911 census, image above, he lived at 3 Water Tower Cottages, Kirby, Frinton On Sea, Essex where he was a boarder and working as a bookstall manager.

John signed up on 9 December 1915 and at that time he still worked as a bookseller. He served in the 7th Battalion of the Royal West Kent Regiment, soldier number 241352 and his military record is one that survives. He was stationed in the UK between 29 April 1916 and 11 September 1917 before being sent overseas with the British Expeditionary Forces (BEF) from 12 September 1917 until 11 October 1918. He had a period back in the UK on leave between 12 October 1918 and 24 October 1918, before being sent back out to the BEF on 25 October 1918 and then back to the UK once more on Armistice Day, 11 November 1918. For those who like this sort of thing, the battalion’s military diaries are on-line, it’s sobering to see the officers writing down the battles and troop movements they were having, it makes it feel rather real.

John died on 26 November 1918, likely as a result of his war injuries as he’s been given a war grave. His next of kin was his widow who lived at 9 Clifton Terrace on Manchester Street in Southampton and they didn’t have any children. John’s parents were James William Woolway and Alice Woolway who at the 1891 census were both running the Post Office in Briningham. On the night of the census, John was at his grand-parent’s house down the road in Burgh Parva. This then explains why he’s buried here, he’s buried with his parents. His widow married Harold Snook in early 1920 and she was living with him in Woolwich at the 1939 register and she died in 1957.

This really is a life lost to the war. It seems likely that he might have had children if he had survived, or at least stayed with his wife for some decades to build a career and life together. Instead, she had to find someone else to live her life with, but at least John came home and is laid to rest with his parents.