For the past few years I’ve been a volunteer researcher at the East Riding Treasure House in Beverley for their WW1 Lives project. The research focuses solely on the men and women from Beverley and the surrounding area who served in The Great War 1914-1918.
It is all done part time, on an as-you-like-it basis, but the general idea is to use the Treasure House archives facilities as much as possible. Personally I don’t always find the time to get in there amongst the microfiche/film readers so I do a lot of my research online and pin point just what I need to be looking for when I do get the chance.
Usually for our life, as we call each person we research, we are given nothing more to go on than a name and photograph from the newspapers of the time which ended up in a publication called Green’s Almanac. From that we trace all that we can about that person, usually a soldier, and the end result is displayed and published by the Treasure House.
Originally we were supposed to be researching around 400 lives but this quickly expanded to 1000.
Unfortunately this project is due to come to a close this year, but another, as yet undefined, but something to do with criminal ancestors, is to take it’s place. On the plus side the Beverley Treasure House has decided to publish some of the research in a book. I’ll make a point of letting people know when it’s available.
Below are some of the lives I have personally researched (all the rest are available to view in the Beverley Treasure House).
As you can see there are a lot of shared surnames, indeed many of them are related. Some are entire families of brothers. Even my own great grandfather, Herbert Blake, is there.
The amount of information available on each life varies. Some I found out an awful lot about, such as William Briggs (of Briggs and Powell), William Stainton (who went down with the Lusitania) and Joseph Herbert Speight Moore (who was at the end of the very heroic death of his battalion), but a few have little more than their medal indexes and perhaps a census entry.
I’m not certain on the copyright issue with the biographies so I’ve not added them to the blog but the full research and supporting documentation can be found at the Beverley Treasure House if you see a name you recognise. This list will be added to as I research more lives.
Fred Sanderson
Harold Ramshaw
2nd Lt Ralph Snowden
Driver Arthur Fenton
Pte Charles Ralph Skinner
Driver Joseph Harold Pudsey
Ernest Ewen Foster
Pte Fred Brooks
Lce-Sgt Frederick Foxton Watson
Corpl George F Hunt
Sgt Henry (Harry) Priestman
Joseph Herbert Speight Moore
Pte Jesse Robinson
Pte John William Holliday
Pte John Riby Lowthorpe
Corporal Robert Lowthorpe
Pte William Lowthorpe
Mr William Stainton
Osborn Cecil Wilkinson
Lt Oscar James Addyman
L/Cpl Arthur Oldfield DCM
Pte Edgar Oldfield
Pte Frank Oldfield
Sgt George Oldfield
Trooper Harold Overton Oldfield
Pte Harry Oldfield
Pte Percy Frederick Carlton
Pte Herbert Blake
Pte Alfred Smith
Pte Alexander Robson
Pte Arthur Ernest Hobson
Pte Albert Charles Andrews
Pte George Matthew Evans
Pte Hubert Binnington
Pte Nor Metcalfe
Robert Arthur Pool
Reginald James Davis
Pte Sydney Harrison
Pte Tom Batty
Pte Vincent Harold Marson
Pte Walter Anderson
Driver Richard Edward Farnaby
Pte Richard Arthur Grantham
L/Cpl Richard William Sissons
Sapper Stanley Loft
Pte Joseph William Loft
Stoker Cyril George Foster
The Uncles Brothers – Charles, George and Thomas
Thomas William Middleton
Pte Thomas Lawson
Pte William Thompson
Pte William Hirst Briggs
Pte James Wilfred Robson
