Cemeteries and graveyards, full of love, betrayal, tragic deaths, murder, and suicide. What will you find?

Wednesday, 7 November 2012

First World War Commonwealth War Grave - Lieutenant Edward Norkett, Royal Army Service Corps

 
 
"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them".
 
 
 
Edward Norkett was born in Maidenhead Berkshire in 1880 to Edward Norkett, an Art Metal worker and his wife Harriet Bissley.

Edward first appears on the 1881 census aged just a year old, living with his parents and maternal aunts Catherine, and Mary, at Broadway, Maidenhead. By 1891 the family had moved to All saint's Avenue in Maidenhead.
 
On the 1901 census, Edward is listed living with his parents and siblings at 6 All Saints Avenue, Maidenhead Berkshire.  Edward's occupation is listed as a blacksmith.
 
On 28th July 1904 Edward married Amy Ann Pattisson at St Mary's Le Park Chapel of ease in Battersea London, where Amy was living at the time in Bolan Street.  On 8th February 1906 their daughter Nora Frances was born, sadly she was to pass away on 19th February 1906.

On 21st February 1906 the following announcements appeared in the Maidenhead Advertiser:

"Births

Norkett- On February 8th, at 15 , Bolan-street. Battersea Park, S.W., the wife of Edward Norksett jun., of a daughter."

"Deaths

Norkett- On 19th February, at 15, Bolan-street, Battersea Park, S.W., Nora Frances, infant daughter of Edward and Amy Norkett."
 
Edward Norkett was an active member in St Luke's Church in Maidenhead, playing violin there as a child and later dedicating a wrought iron and gold leaf screen, made by himself, to the church in 1910. 


Decorative Wrought Iron Scene made by Edward
St Luke's Church, Maidenhead, Berkshire



On the 1911 census Edward is listed as the manager of an Art Metal Works, he is living at 16A King Street, Maidenhead with his wife Amy, and her younger brother Walter Lawrence Pattisson, who is Edward's Apprentice.
 
Sometime after the outbreak of World War I, Edward enlisted with the Royal Army Service Corps.  The Royal Army Service Corps were responsible for land, coastal, and lake transport; air dispatch; supply of food, water, fuel, and general domestic stores such as clothing, furniture and stationery; administration of barracks; the Army Fire Service; and provision of staff clerks to headquarters units. He was stationed in Christchurch, New Zealand.


Lieutenant Edward Norkett (right)
and his son Walter


 
Unfortunately, I cannot trace Edward's Military Service Records.  He died from sickness on 25th March 1919 at the military hospital in Wareham Dorset.  

On 2nd April 1919 the Maidenhead Advertiser reported:

"Death of the Ex-Mayor's Son.

A Military Funeral.

We deeply regret to announce the death in hospital of Lieutenant Edward Norkett, R.A.S.C., the elder son of the ex-mayor, Councillor E. Norkett, of All Saints'-avenue and High Town-road. He died on Tuesday in last week at the Wareham Military Hospital, after a useful career in the A.S.C. during the war, in which service he rose to a commission as a Lieutenant. We feel sure that all our readers will share our deep regret at the sad loss sustained by the ex-mayor and his respected family, and will concur in the public expression of condolence passed by the Town Council at their last week's sitting.

The late Lieutenant Norkett was widely known in the town and neighbourhood, and took a prominent part in the efficient maintenance of the Volunteer corps. He assisted his father in the motor business in High Town-road, and his loss to the business will be irreparable. The deceased, who was well-known in the Wareham district, was a member of the Ringwood Lodge of Freemasons.

The body was removed from the hospital to Wareham Station on Friday, preparatory to the internment at Maidenhead. The coffin was borne on a gun carriage drawn by six horses, and behind it followed the deceased's charger, with the deceased's riding boots reversed, and  Lieut-Colonel Maurice, R.A.S.C., Major Collier, Major Wilson, and Captain Lloyd. The pall-bearers were three of the deceased's brother officers and three officers of the Tank Corps (Wareham). The R. E. Training Centre at Christchurch were represented by Lieutenant Cooper; the Army Veterinary Corps by Sergeant-Major Tillett; the New Zealand Engineers by Sergeant-Major Brownlee, Sergeant-Major Dyson and Sergeant Duncan; Mr. J. W. Whiting represented the D O.R.E., Christchurch, and others present included Mr. D. Wilton, late of Maidenhead, who had known the deceased since boyhood.

The body having been brought to Maidenhead, the funeral service was held on Saturday afternoon at All Saints' Church conducted by the Rev. J. F. S. Russell, and the internment was in the graveyard attached to the church. 

Mr. and Mrs. Norkett and the widow have received a number of letters from officers and others testifying to their deep respect for the late Lieutenant. Major M. C. Collier writes from the Wareham Headquarters:- "He was an officer that knew his duty and performed it with precision, and one that I could always trust implicitly. Christchurch during his tenure of command was always my model station. May I tell you that I sent his name up twice for inclusion in the 'honours' list, and I was always sorry that it was cut out by higher authorities, as if anyone deserved a 'mention' it was he."

Lieut.-Col. A. J. Maurice, in the course of a sympathetic letter to the young widow, says that though he had known Lieut. Norkett only six months "I had learned to appreciate his character, and value to the good and strenuous work he always did. I know that he endeared himself to all who came in contact with him, and he will be sadly missed."" 


Edward's World War I Medal Card suggests that Amy applied for his Territorial Forces Medal after his death on 3rd May 1920.  The Territorial Force War Medal was a campaign medal awarded to members of the British Territorial Force and Territorial Force Nursing Services who served overseas in World War I, it is the rarest of the five British Great War medals.


After Edward's death Amy and Walter moved to 36 Cromwell Road, Maidenhead, where they can both be found on the 1921 Census.
 
Edward and Amy's only surviving child Walter Edward Norkett was to serve with the Royal Army Service Corps during World War II, sadly he died during service sometime between 31st May and 4th June 1940, just two years after the death of his mother.  He is buried in Dunkirk Cemetery in France.
 
Maybe it was some small mercy that Amy died before Walter after losing Edward to war service.


 



3 comments:

  1. Well researched that, Walter should be buried in among the graves here Plot 2 Row 20 Grave 11.
    http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/68303/DUNKIRK%20TOWN%20CEMETERY

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you. I'll have a look at that link. so sad that both Father and son were taken by war.

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  2. Very sad, but love reading these :)

    ReplyDelete

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