Category: Norfolk

This is the war grave of Alan George Gibling, located at Earlham Cemetery in the main area and not within the military section. I can’t find out anything about his period in the First World War itself, but the story here (for me anyway) is that this is the first time I’ve submitted a request for the CWGC to change information on their web-site.

But, going back a bit, Alan was born on 3 June 1896, the son of George Joseph Gibling and Ellen Gibling (nee Dix). At the 1901 census, he was living with his parents and his brother John Charles and his sister Margaret Ellen, as well as a servant Baldry Gibling, although it’s confusing why she shared the same surname with no obvious family links. They lived at 191 College Road in the city and Alan was educated at Avenue Road School and then at the City of Norwich School between 1 September 1908 and 20 July 1912.

At the 1911 census, the family were still living in the same property and this time the family has been joined by Geoffrey Dix, with the servant now 19-year old Alice Nichols. This census also reveals that George and Ellen lost one child at some point during their marriage.

Alan’s war records seem to have been lost in the fire during the Second World War, as so many were, but he joined the Norfolk Regiment, but I’m not sure whether or not he would have seen active service. Alan died on home soil on 17 October 1915 at the age of 19.

Back to the CWGC, the record on their web-site lists him as Allen George, and I wonder whether someone has looked at his mother’s name and got muddled up. Mistakes are not uncommon due to the challenging way that the information was gathered around a century ago, with the CWGC noting they make changes to their database most days based on details provided. All of the other war details, mentions on war memorials, his school records and censuses have him listed as Alan George. I was going to just leave the CWGC record incorrect rather than spend time compiling the evidence that they required, but it seemed the right thing to do for Alan’s permanent record to be correct.

Although we’ll likely now find out that I’ve misunderstood something and no change is needed, but we shall see….

This is the war grave of Valorous John Wright, buried in the older military graves area of Earlham Cemetery. Incidentally, my photo of this grave is at an angle as there’s a big bush in front of it.

Valorous is a wonderful name and it’s because he was born on HMS Valorous, a Royal Navy paddle frigate built in 1851, on 24 December 1866. He went to North Road Boys /Steynton School at Milford Haven and his school records remain from 1878 and 1879.

As is this document which I very much like about the school’s progress and the students clearing off home, with Valorous mentioned at the bottom.

At the 1881 census, Valorous was living with his mother, Mary Jane Wright, at Robert Street in Steynton, his father having already died. There were two lodgers in the property as well with Valorous and his mother, Richard Wakeham and William Tinkham.

He joined the army at Pembroke Dock on 14 June 1883 at the age of 16, although he declared on his form that he was 18 years and 5 months old. He asked to join the Royal Welsh Fusiliers and his medical was the next day and magically he declared his age to be 19. The records show that he was 5’6″ in height and weighed 8.7 stone.

During his time in the army, Valorous married Martha Huggins on 10 September 1896 at the Church of St. Ethelreda in Norwich. At the 1891 and 1901 censuses, Valorous was away in the army, whilst his wife Martha was living with her father John Huggins, on King Street in 1891 and at 54 Argyle Street in 1901.

Whilst in the army, Valorous fought in South Africa, but was mostly stationed in the UK and he was uninjured in battle during his service. He was promoted to Colour Sergeant on 25 February 1900, moving to the Norfolk Regiment on 27 February 1906 and then leaving the military entirely on 31 July 1909.

Valorous died on 11 December 1910 at the age of 43, leaving his wife who was ten years younger than him, with his burial being on 17 December 1910. During their final year the couple lived at 115 Sprowston Road, a house perhaps more notable today for being opposite the rather lovely Brewery Tap pub. But, my favourite part of this story is really the name, and I think it’s not unusual for people born at sea to be named after the boat that they are on.

This is the war grave of Robert Love Gracie, buried in the older military graves area of Earlham Cemetery. Robert was a Canadian who born on 9 March 1893, the son of Elizabeth Gracie. The real story behind this post is though the excellent state of the Canadian archives, all freely accessible and with substantial documentation retained for members of their armed forces. Robert’s war records are 78 pages long and contain more information about his medical condition than anyone could perhaps ever need to know.

Robert was single and he worked as a clerk at Eaton’s department stores, living at 124 Hogarth Avenue in Toronto, a property which is still there, and he had a brother and two sisters. We know from his sign-up medical that he was 5’8″, had a dark complexion, had brown eyes, black hair and declared his religious belief to be Presbyterian. Robert was given the service number 404091 and he joined the 14th Battalion of the Canadian Infantry.

On 4 June 1915, Robert sailed from Montreal to the UK on the SS Metagama, a new cruise ship which the Canadian military had requisitioned as a troop carrier. He remained in the UK until 20 January 1916, when he sailed to Le Havre and from there he was sent to the front line with his unit on 2 February 1916.

I wonder when writing these wills what the soldiers thought, as Canada at this stage didn’t have conscription, so Robert signed up voluntarily. Robert was placed on the front line for the first time on 2 February 1916, but on 9 March 1916, he was seriously injured with shrapnel wounds to his right hand and his right leg.

He was taken to a field hospital on 9 March and an operation was undertaken and x-rays were also taken, which has survived in the archive. I don’t know what I’m looking at here to be honest, but on 13 March it was decided that Robert needed to be returned to a hospital in England.

The above is his temperature chart for the time that he was at the field hospital.

The hospital that Robert was sent to was the Norfolk War Hospital in Thorpe (St. Andrew’s Hospital) and on 15 March he was seen by the doctors there. It was noted that a shell had blown off some of his fingers and the stump of his hand had gone septic. His knee and leg were very swollen and there was a penetrating wound to the upper part of his calf.

On 16 March, the doctors noted that Robert’s leg remained very swollen, but by 19 March, although the swelling was going down, he remained in a poor condition. However, on 20 March, Robert suffered from a secondary haemorrhage and his leg was amputated at the thigh, where it was discovered that his thigh muscles were riddled with pus. Unfortunately, at 10:45 on the 20 March 1916, Robert died at the age of 23.

The authorities seemed to take care of providing a suitable burial, checking if his next of kin wanted his body returning to Canada. He was buried at Earlham Cemetery, a long way from home, at 14:30 on Friday 24 March 1916, with a contingent from the military and a bugler present.

And it’s not often that there are photos available of those who died in the First World War, but this is Robert. I don’t know why he wanted to serve in the army, whether it was because he felt it was his patriotic duty or whether he wanted adventure. But, he joined at a time when it was clear that the war wasn’t going to be over quickly and he would have been aware of the loss of lives that was taking place. Either way, he seems like a hero to me.

This is one of the earliest graves in the old military burial area at Earlham Cemetery in Norwich. This story particularly interested me as the funeral was so well covered in the local press that it gave me quite a picture of what the burial must have been like.

It’s not clear whether it’s David McSweeny or David McSweeney, I suspect it’s the latter, although the grave uses the former spelling. He was born in around 1839 and he joined the military in 1858, serving in the 7th Queen’s Own Hussars and he had reached the rank of Paymaster Sergeant.

It is the death of David that received much local press attention, including the inquest and the burial of his body. On the evening of 24 June 1875, he was in a rowing boat with his friend David Couper and they were nearby to St. Anne’s Staithe in Norwich (pretty much opposite the Queen of Iceni, nearby to the new St. Anne’s housing development) when a steamer hit them. David’s body was pulled out of the water a few minutes later, but he was already dead, aged just 36.

A coroner’s court took place in July 1875 at the Cinder Oven pub on King Street, in Norwich (a building now demolished, but it once jutted on to the city wall near to the Carrow Bridge boom tower). The Deputy Coroner heard evidence from numerous witnesses, but there was confusion as to how David had fallen into the water and died. Captain Thompson from the army said “it seemed rather odd that no-one appeared to see the deceased get into the water”.

One of the witnesses was WR L’Estrange, a brewer at the Bullards brewery, who said that there was no need for David to have jumped into the water as he would have been safe given the low speed of the steamer. When asked, he put his decision to jump as being “out of terror”. Captain Thompson confirmed that David hadn’t drunk alcohol for 15 years as he was tee-total, so a poor decision due to drink was ruled out, and he also confirmed that David was able to swim. The whole thing was a bit of a mystery and a verdict of accidental drowning was given.

David wasn’t married, but the non-commissioned officers clubbed together to pay for a headstone for him, a rather lovely gesture. And this is how the Norfolk News reported David’s funeral:

“On Monday afternoon, the remains of the Sergeant were interred at the Norwich Cemetery. The firing party was followed by the body of the deceased borne on a gun-carriage, the coffin being covered by a velvet pall upheld at the sides by six Sergeants of the regiment. Next came deceased’s charger, followed by the men of the troop. The military procession was succeeded by three mourning-coaches containing the relatives and friends of the deceased, who was unmarried. The bands of the regiment played a dead march, and several thousand persons assembled to watch the mournful procession on its route to the place of burial”.

The thought of that number of people watching and paying their respects is quite a picture to build up in the mind. The backdrop to this though is that the military were held in high repute by most locals and the period when David died was one where there were relatively few British military deaths. Over 10,000 had lost their lives in the Indian Rebellion in the 1850s, but the next major loss of life wasn’t until the late 1870s with the Second Anglo-Afghan War and the Anglo-Zulu War.

This does all mean that although David died relatively young at 36, his death was at least marked with respect and dignity.

This is the grave of Walter Peter Smith, located in the old war graves area of Earlham Cemetery. Unfortunately, there’s not much of a story here, other than some sympathy to anyone called Smith who is trying to research their family history.

I do know that Walter was born in the third quarter of 1893 and he married Rachel Bailey on 9 May 1915 in St. Augustine’s Church in Norwich. And I know that on 31 March 1915, he joined the 5th battalion of the Coldstream Guards with service number 15935. Walter died on either the 10 February or the 11 February 1916 (different dates for this, but I assume it’s the latter since that’s what is on his grave) at the age of 23.

His grave, which predated the CWGC stones, was erected by his wife, at that point living in New Catton. The reason for such a short story here is that Walter’s war records haven’t survived (other than for a single page from the Coldstream Guards records) and there are three Walter Smiths in Norwich at that time and it’s not clear to me which is which. Which is moderately annoying, but a usual challenge for those with this surname. Anyway, maybe I’ll work out more one day…..

This is the grave of Frank Samuel Tann, located in the older military burials area of Earlham Cemetery. These graves offer some very different sorts of military stories to those who died in the First World War, and there was no conscription in the nineteenth century so everyone in the army is there by some form of choice.

Frank was born in 1875, the son of Ransome Bransby Tann and Hannah Tann (nee Sayer), who had married at St. Peter Hungate Church in Norwich on 6 April 1874. The couple lived at Philadelphia Lane in Norwich, a street which is still there, but the Victorian housing has all long since gone.

For reasons that I don’t understand, Frank was living with his grandparents (on his mother’s side) at the 1881 census, Henry Sayer and Hannah Sayer. Henry worked as a shoemaker and the family lived at Gildengate Street in Norwich. He was still living with them at the time of the 1891 census, although they had by now moved to Middle Street and Frank was also working as a shoemaker, like his grandfather.

At the age of 19 years (and 9 months), the excitement of working as a shoemaker (specifically he was working as a clicker in the shoe trade) in Norwich had perhaps worn off. He had been serving in the Norfolk Artillery Militia and decided that he would sign up for the army, agreeing to serve for at least 12 years. He attested for military service on 29 August 1894 (and he was given the service number 4058) and his medical revealed that he was 5’7″ in height, weighed 9.5 stone, had brown hair and was a member of the Church of England.

Frank’s war records remain, so it’s possible to say where he was stationed, although not unfortunately the exact area of any particular country. He was at his home base with the 1st Norfolk Regiment, which was at the Britannia Barracks in Norwich which had been constructed between 1885 and 1887, from 29 August 1894 until 9 November 1894. He then went to India from 10 November 1897 until 25 February 1904, before returning home between 26 February 1904 and 14 January 1905. His final overseas posting was in South Africa from 15 January 1905 until 16 February 1907, then coming back to the Britannia Barracks. I do wonder what these soldiers thought about these places they were sent, it must have felt very exotic.

His military records also give details of his promotions, he started as a private in the army, then was promoted to a lance corporal on 27 April 1896, although returned to being a private on 10 November 1896. He was made a lance corporal again on 11 September 1897, then a corporal on 18 September 1899, a lance sergeant on 1 December 1901 and then a sergeant on 6 July 1903. He served in the army for a total of 15 years and 134 days, as he died in Norwich on 9 January 1910 at the age of just 35, the cause of death being given as a malignant tumour.

On 14 September 1908, Frank had married Ellen Ethel in Brentwood and they lived at 2 King Street in Norwich. The witnesses at their wedding were Frederick Marshall and Alfred Hyatt, with Ellen Ethel later working as a nurse and she lived until 1956.

Frank was buried at the military section of cemetery and the authorities must have thought that they would have enough space for many more decades, unaware of what was ahead just a few years later with the First World War. His gravestone is a good quality one, although some of the lettering is coming off, something which the CWGC repair for the graves in their care. A life sadly cut short far too early and I do wonder what Frank thought about his over seven years in India.