The Abbott Family - Three cousins, George, Ted and William Henry Abbott are the first names on the Ringstead Roll of Honour.

In the Edwardian period of comparative peace, the military boot and shoe trade was in recession following the temporary boost of the Boer War. As we now know, just a few years later, another more terrible war was to suddenly explode across Europe and the globe. By its conclusion 8½million people had died and some 29 million wounded or missing.

George Abbott (1888 – 1946)

George Abbott had been born to John and Eliza on 12^th January 1888 so he was 26 years old when the First Wold War broke out. He was probably working as a hand-sewn boot maker and probably had already been captain of the Ringstead football team.

George in Ringstead Football Team in 1905–6 (aged about 17) With the kind permission of the Ringstead Heritage Group.

As we have seen, in 1911 he was living with his widowed mother, Eliza. At some point he enlisted in the army but unfortunately almost all his records have been lost or destroyed, like so many others.

George in his uniform Thanks to George’s son-in-law Alan Clipston for this

We do know that he joined the 9^th (Reserve) Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. We do have a Medal Roll for a George Abbott of the Royal Warwickshires who entered the “Balkans Theatre of War” on 25^th September 1915 (Regimental No. 12526). It seems likely that this is our man. He would have missed the terrible carnage that the battalion, as part of the 39^th Brigade, had suffered that summer in the Gallipoli area. He would have been part of the draft of new soldiers sent out to bring the battalion back up to strength. Unfortunately, this was to be a recurring necessity.

He would have joined the 9^th in trenches near what was called by the soldiers, Chocolate Hill where they were pinned, unable to move forward. On November 26^th a torrential rainstorm broke and the trenches, cut out of the hard rock and clay, quickly flooded. At the time the 9^th were resting in the reserve trenches where at least they could move around. Even here, the dugouts were flooded and washed away. Worse followed for the rain was followed by bitter frosts and them by blizzards of snow.

They were unable to light fires so the officers attempted to keep the men warm by marching them up and down and rousing those who fell asleep.  There were many cases of frostbite and nearly two thirds of the Battalion were sick. When the weather abated it took some ten days to repair the trenches and dugouts while the men sheltered as best they could in holes and hedges.

Evacuation began in December and the whole of the battalion successfully embarked for Lemnos, a Greek island south-west of Gallipoli and a short period of rest. They did return to the trenches again but it was realised that the enterprise had failed and the army was evacuated from Gallipoli. George would have sailed with the remnants of the Warwickshires to Port Said in Egypt, at the northern end of the Suez Canal.

Any respite was only temporary for they moved on into the area then called Mesopotamia, (mainly modern Iraq), reaching Basra (Basrah) where they disembarked. From there they journeyed up the River Tigris, reaching Sheikh Saad (Shayk Sa’d) on March 21^st 1916. This area had been a part of the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire but only loosely held, mainly through local tribal leaders. The focus of the fighting was to relieve the town of Kut. Within a few weeks almost all the officers and many of the troops had been killed and some forced to surrender. This pattern continued with the Warwickshires showing great courage in the face of a much larger army. Two of their officers were awarded the V.C. in this campaign.

The Battalion moved forward as part of the 39^th Brigade finally reaching Baghdad. The relentless fighting continued, the searing heat which producing shimmering mirages which masked the enemy’s positions. As on the Western Front it was a warfare of small gains and terrible casualties often fought in almost unbearable conditions.

From late 1917 and into April 1918 were at Deli Abbas and Nahrin Kupri where they were victorious and took 1400 Turkish prisoners. They then moved into Summer quarters at Abu Said but on 10^th July 1918 they were ordered to proceed to Persia (now Iran). The civil war of the Revolution had left Russia unable for a time to  maintain an organised army. As a result, the German and Turkish armies had once more moved into Persia.

The final destination was Baku on the Western coast of the Caspian Sea, with the task of safeguarding the oil wells there from the Turks and their German masters. The Royal Warwickshires travelled by train from Abu Saida to Ruz and then by lorry over the mountain to Hamadan. After ten days rest they marched over the Sultan Bulaq Pass to Kasvin (Qazvin). After resting they carried on by lorry to Kazian (Qaziyn) where they embarked for Baku.

Again, it was not a successful campaign and the British suffered a number of defeats losing many men, wounded, killed and taken prisoner. Once more they were forced to make an organised retreat to waiting boats and safety. On 28^th September 1918 the Battalion sailed across the Caspian Sea to Krasnovdsk in Russia (now Turkmenbashi in Turkmenistan) on its eastern shore. Here George and his comrades would have stayed until April 1919 helping to protect the railway from the Bosheviks.

The family believe that he served in India. I have not found written evidence for this but in 1918 in the Royal Warwickshire 9^th Battalion War Diary there are a number of “Leave Parties” bound for India. I think this must have been in lieu of home leave for the soldiers. Certainly, the photographs which George’s son-in-law Alan Clipston has allowed us to use confirm that George was certainly in India with the army. One photograph shows Dagshai a hill station in Northern India which had army barracks and gaol and was built originally as sanatorium for T.B. patients. I am sure that there is more to learn. An ideal place to recuperate away from the burning heat of much of the campaign.

A photograph brought back by George of the Battalion football team. Notice the antelope crest of the Warwickshires. With the kind permission of Alan Clipston

George in India with two comrades and three local boys. Courtesy of Alan Clipston

By now the war on the Western Front was over and the attritional fighting had stopped. Early in April 1919 some of the Battalion started the long journey home and although the rest continued in the area their numbers had fallen to five officers and 67 men. These last remnants of the 9^th were transferred to the 9^th Worcesters and the 9^th Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment was disbanded.

It seems likely that George Abbott returned with the first group. He appears to have been a brave reliable soldier and at some point was promoted to Corporal and probably to Sergeant. He was awarded the Victory, British and 1914/15 Star medals. At his demob on 31^st July 1919 he was put on the “Class Z” list which meant they he might be called up if the Peace Treaty collapsed and there was another war or emergency.  Fortunately for George it took another twenty years for this to happen.

George had endured 3½ years of continual warfare in burning heat and bitter cold with little respite and no chance to take home leave. He would have seen friends and colleagues in the 9^th Battalion killed and wounded. The final release back to his home village and family must have been a wonderful feeling but many found it difficult to fit back into the lives of people who would have found it difficult to comprehend what they had endured and seen during the war.

George and Clara outside the shed where he worked. He sold his boots from this shed. Courtesy of Alan Clipston and Jon Abbott

George as captain of the Ringstead Football Team (date unknown)

Nevertheless, he had to settle back into civilian life and early in 1925 he married Clara Braybrooke Smith.  Clara had been born in Denford, on 27^th April 1889, the daughter of Frederick Smith and his wife Lucy Elizabeth (née Braybrooke). Going back to the 1911 Census for Denford, Frederick had been a ganger in charge of a platelayer crew, working for the Midland Railway Company. Clara was an Elementary School Teacher.

George and Clara had married late and had one daughter called Jean in 1927 who later married Alan Clipston. The 1939 Register has George and Clara in Church Street (I think the Register wrongly has Clara’s middle name as Bertha). George is a handsewn boot maker, one of a diminishing breed. Clara is still an Elementary School teacher. They are just a few doors away from Harold Coates the Ringstead Headmaster and his wife but Clara would bike every day to Titchmarsh to work in the school there.

George died, aged 58 on 8^th October 1946 having seen another World War come to a close. Clara lived another 25 years, dying in 1971, aged 81 years.

References:
Ringstead Roll of Honour (Published June 1919): Ringstead Church and War Memorial: Edward and George Abbott: Ringstead Parish Registers . www.rushdenheritage.co.uk .

Ringstead Censuses and Parish Records: Civil Registration Death Index 1916 -2007: WWI Medal Rolls. www.ancestry.co.uk .

9^th (Service) Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment 39^th Brigade, 13^th Division from The Story of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment by C.L. Kingsford Chapter XXV . Posted by “brindlerp” on 19^th November 2006 on www.greatwarforum.org .

Ted Abbott (1890 – 1963)

Ted from Ringstead School photo (c1900)

Unlike his older brother, Ted married before he went into the army, on 5^th September 1914, just weeks after war had been declared. The marriage took place in Raunds and his bride was Ada Ellen Perrin, some three years his junior. Their first child, Rosalie Irene, was born in Raunds, 5 months later, on 20^th February 1915. At the time they were living at 5 Wellington Road in Raunds but they soon moved to Ringstead High Street.

Ted and Ada with children Rosalie and Jack By kind permission of Jon Abbott

Ted first attested (joined up) in Raunds on 10^th December 1915 and was put in the Army Reserve. He was 24 years 3 months old, 5ft 9inches tall, with a 34-inch chest when fully expanded. It was not until 15^th January 1917 that he was “mobilised” and joined the Northamptonshire Regiment 7^th (Service) Battalion (Regimental No. 202973). He reported three days later to the Territorial Force Depot 13 in Clare Street in Northampton.

The “Service” Battalions were ones raised at the beginning of the war from civilian volunteers. It was known as Mobbs Own” after Edgar Mobbs, a famous rugby player who was one of the first to volunteer and whose charisma prompted many others to join up. Unfortunately, most of these men, like Mobbs, had been killed by 1918 and the majority were, by this time, conscripts.

He was now part of the 7^th (Service) Battalion of the Northamptonshire Regiment and went with them on 24^th April 1917 to an Infantry Base Depot. This would be a holding camp in northern France, near the coast where the men would be kept in training until they were moved up to the front. The 9^th had been in France since 1915 so he would have been part of a draft replacing the wounded and the dead. It is not clear if he had ever been moved to the front line but he was only in France 43 days. On 3^rd June 1917 he was diagnosed with an “inflammation of the connective tissue of the left heel” which could have been caused by too much “square-bashing” on hard surfaces. He was taken by the 138^th Field Ambulance to No. 17 Casualty Clearing Station and returned to England for treatment.

He was back in England for 222 days before he once more joined his Base Depot in France on 15^th January 1918 before being posted to the 7^th Battalion of the Northamptonshire Regiment a day later. On his record sheet it states that he would now be in the Northamptonshire 6^th “for Record Purposes” but it seems clear that he remained with the 7^th and any stay with the 6^th was only temporary.

He remained in France for 1 year 16 days. Returning home on 31^st January 1919, some two months after the war had finished. It was in this period that Ted met Charles Laughton, who later became one of the most famous screen and stage actors of his generation. Laughton, born in Yorkshire, had originally been part of  the 2/1^st Huntingdonshire Cyclists (“The Gaspipe Cavalry”) but finished up in the 7^th Battalion of the Northamptonshire Regiment at the same time as Ted. After the war Ted and Charles exchanged a number of letters before fame and fortune beckoned for Laughton.

In 1919, a former captain in the 7^th Northamptonshires, H.B. King, wrote a history of the Battalion in the First World War in which he told of the area in front of Hargicourt where the 7^th had moved on 26^th September 1917:

Not a single house had been left standing for miles round, and hardly even a tree; the roads had been blown up at junctions, and all railway lines systematically destroyed by the enemy before he had withdrawn . . . except for a few huts, there was neither cover for man or animal.

It was into this scene that Ted was taken into in January 1918.

As the “Revolution” of 1917 had for the time discounted Russia as an effective ally, the Germans began to make progress again and in early 1918 an offensive was expected between St Quentin and Cambrai. The 24^th Brigade worked over the first three months of 1918 trying to build up strong defensive positions in the devastated countryside but the weather was very wet and the front was too long to defend along all its length. On March 21^st when the Germans attacked, in what was called the Battle of St Quentin, much of the defensive system was still in the planning stage, or as H.B. King described it:

            ". . . defences existed only on maps or in tape marks over the country-side“.

The 7^th, as part of the 24^th Division had been had not been out of the line since the previous July but when it was clear an attack was imminent they were instructed that they would not be relieved. The 7^th were held in the Corps Reserve at Harcourt, ready to move to their allotted battle positions. At 4.30 on March 21^st they moved up to these positions on high ground with trenches less than three feet deep and exposed to artillery fire. The enemy attacked in heavy mist and with its flanks overrun the 7^th withdrew with difficulty to Harcourt. Their position was undefendable and further withdrawals took place to the high ground on the western bank of the Somme. In this withdrawal the troops had to cross a bridge at Falvey and the 7^th were the last battalion to mount a rearguard to allow the retreat to the west bank.

After a brief respite the 7^th were ordered to join other troops in a counter-attack but they were met by a much larger German force and were forced back to a line between Hallu and Chaulnes where they were placed on Brigade Reserve. Once more, they were called to the front and were involved in hand-to-hand bombing but the battalions on the flanks of the line gave way and, in danger of being encircled, the 7^th had to withdraw again and again until they were given the task with others of defending the bridgeheads at Berteaucourt and Thennes.

The 24^th Division had borne the attack of eleven German divisions from 21 March for some ten days although forced to lose ground in the process. They were finally relieved on April 5^th. H.B. King wrote in 1919:

The whole army had been repeatedly threatened with annihilation, but the doggedness of the private soldier and the leadership of the subordinate commanders had saved everything; and the 7^th Northamptons, though reduced in numbers, survived that period of stress as a unit – individually depressed, perhaps but collectively confident of eventual victory.

The 7^th went on motor buses to Saleux and by train to the mouth of the Somme at the village of Escarbotin, near St Valery. Here they were given new uniforms. They had a day on the beach at Ault where the companies were photographed. But the time away from the front was short-lived and after a ten-hour train journey and a nine hour march they arrived at billets at the small town of Houdain. German aeroplanes flew over on April 23^rd and dropped bombs on the billet killing seven men and wounding nineteen. On the 30^th they marched five miles only to be recalled when an attack elsewhere was expected. Next day they marched ten miles to Les Brebis and relieved the Royal Canadian Mounted rifles in the “Hill 70” area which had been in German hands when the 7th had been in the area earlier in the war.

Hill 70 had a network of old mining tunnels through chalk which had been opened up by the 3^rd Australian Mining Company and were a great defensive position but could be a death trap in case of a successful attack by the enemy. After a time at the front line they moved back to the Divisional Reserve positions where they spent the time making dugouts. There was no major attack but a form of influenza, called pyrexia, or Spanish flu, broke out in the battalion affecting some 200 men and several thousands in the Division. Fortunately, it also badly affected the Germans. Within a fortnight, however, the worst was over.

Time passed, and the German attack did not materialise. The men spent their time on “spit and polish”. King, in a slightly surreal report, relates:

At the 24^th Divisional Horse Show held on August 8^th the 7^th Northamptons won first prize in the heavy draught horse class as well as the “VC race” for other ranks.

There was still night bombing causing casualties and fighting continued among the ruins of Lens where the Germans had taken over parts of the city.

On 30^th September 1918 the 7^th were relieved and marched to huts at Compigny and then by a series of train journeys and marches they reached the front line some four miles south-west of Cambrai. The 7^th Northamptons and Canadian troops captured Cambrai. At 5.30 am on the 9^th October, the Battalion moved forward against a German defensive position in the village of Cagnoncles. They won the day but with the loss of some 90 men killed and wounded. When this site fell there was little further opposition as they moved forward to Avesnes (Avesnes les Auber). Nevertheless, they again saw action at Rieux-en-Cambresis and Haussy while trying to cross the River La Selle.

After almost continuous marching and action the 7^th they went to billets at Cauroir, three miles east of Cambrai for a week’s recuperation. Here the battalion won seven of the events in the sports arranged by the 73^rd Infantry Brigade.

They were soon in action again and the 7^th were detailed to capture the village of Wargnies le Petit which they achieved and then went into billets there, being treated well by the few French civilians still in the village. They then moved forward to Bavai (Bavay) and on to high ground east of Mairiaux. On November 11^th moving back to near Bavai the battalion learned that the Germans had accepted the Allies Armistice terms. It seems it was greeted with relief and thankfulness rather than euphoria. They had been part of a war of attrition, sometimes losing ground but maintaining their discipline in the face of overwhelming odds.

Although the Armistice had been agreed, a Peace Treaty had not yet been signed and the 7^th remained in France for a further seven months. The battalion made a number of marches before billeting at Bachy where, discovering that the 2^nd Northamptons were a few miles away, a football match was arranged which the 7^th won 1 – 0. The billets here were poor so they moved to Tournai. At Tournai, after disruption caused by an unexplained fire, they billeted in an Asylum. Classes were held in Arithmetic, French and other subjects. Christmas Day 1918 was spent in the Asylum! On January 11^th the first party of other ranks were dispatched to England and then continued once or twice a week.

Ted Abbott received an advance of £2 on is pay and was given a 28-day furlough on 31^st January 1919. He was given a Protection Certificate and Certificate of Identity to prove he was not a deserter. His army career was over. He signed to confirm that he had no disabilities and was formally demobilised to “Class Z” on 28^th February 1919 and he remained on this until 31^st March of the following year.  He was entitled to the British and Victory Medals.

He returned to his wife and family in Ringstead and settled down to working in a shoe factory. It may have been a difficult transition.

The couple had five more children after the war to follow Rosalie and Jack. They were Leonard (1919), Dora (1922), William (1927), Derek (1929) and Greta (1937).

The Old Post Office in High Street, Ringstead c1910. Later, the Post Office moved and Ted and Ada lived here with their family.

As an aside there is a strange glimpse of him in the “Out of Town Bargain Section” of the Sheffield Independent in November and December 1930 where it lists:

£2 ELGIN WATCH silver, 8-day; Charles II 5/- 1673; two Motor Covers, Tubes hardly worn 26x3. Offers – Ted Abbott, Ringstead, Northants.

In the 1939 Register of England & Wales Ted is still a shoehand in a shoe room. He is with Ada and family in Ringstead High Street. At some point he had problems with his right leg due to poor circulation and had to have part of that leg amputated.

He contacted a disease of the lung and died in Oundle Hospital in the  last quarter of 1963 aged 73.

References:
Many thanks  to Alan Clipston (George’s son-in-law) for many of the photographs and family information.
I have to thank Steve (Stebie9173) on the Great War Forum website for his help with interpreting Ted’s army records.

Ringstead Roll of Honour 1919. www.rushdenheritage.co.uk.

Ringstead Registers and Censuses. www.Ancestry.com.

The Charles Laughton Pages www.huntscycles.co.uk.

George’s Medal Roll; Army Records. www.Ancestry.com.

7^th(S) Battalion Northamptonshire regiment 1914-18 by H.B. King M.C. Late Captain 7^th Northamptonshire Regiment (Aldershot 1919). www.lib.militaryarchive.co.uk/library.

Infantry Depots in France 1914-18 www.longlongtrail.co.uk

Sheffield Independent Nov/Dec 1930. www.Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk.

1939 Register of England and Wales www.findmypast.co.uk.

William Henry Abbott (1889 – 1978)

William Henry Abbott was the son of Joseph and Annie and cousin of George and Ted. He was born on 26^th September 1889 and in the 1891 Census he was living with his parents and siblings in Chapel Road, Ringstead. His father was a grocer and coal dealer but by 1891 he had become a shoemaker so perhaps the business had failed. William’s older sister, Olive, was a pupil teacher and the other sister, Lilian was a shop assistant in the Co-op Stores.

I have not found William in the 1911 Census but he is not with his family. Also, when we look for his military career we find his records are part of the burnt papers which were destroyed in the Second World War by a German air raid. Much of the originals survive, however so we can follow his wartime life.

William signed a “Territorial Force Attestation Form” for four years’ service on 22^nd November 1915 and was given the Regimental Number 5026. Initially the men signing up for the Territorial Forces were guaranteed only to serve in this country in defence of the nation. As the casualties mounted this guarantee was revoked. When William signed up he was 26 years 2 months old, 5feet 6½inches tall and had an expanded chest of 37½inches, with excellent eyesight and good physical development.

William was embodied into the 3/4^th Battalion Territorial Force of the Northamptonshire Regiment. This battalion had been formed on May 12^th 1915 at Northampton, moved to Great Windsor Park and then in October 1915 to Halton Park near Tring in Buckinghamshire. On April 8^th 1916 it became the 4^th (Reserve) Battalion. Alfred de Rothschild had offered Halton Park as a training camp at the beginning of the war.

On the Long, Long Trail website it gives an insight into the what recruits should expect.

Training for ordinary Tommies began with basic training for physical fitness, drill, march discipline, essential field craft and so on. Later, as the soldier specialised (in the infantry, for example, as a rifleman, machine gunner, rifle grenadier, signaller or bomber) he would receive course of instruction relevant to his role. Especially as he was approached being warned for the active fronts he would receive basic training in first aid, gas defence, wiring and other aspects.

William’s fitness and leadership skills were quickly recognized and through his record card we see him moving through the ranks from Lance Corporal to Acting unpaid Corporal to Acting Corporal (29^th February 1916) and finally to Acting Sergeant on 22^nd November 1916.

It seems likely that William’s main role was as a PT Instructor getting the new recruits fit enough for useful service at the Front. The British Establishment was appalled at the terrible physical state of many conscripts especially from the poorer areas of cities like Glasgow.

William Abbott in uniform

In August 1917 the 4^th moved to Crowborough in East Sussex. For William, his time in the comparative safety of English countryside would soon be over. On 27^th February 1918 he was posted to the Light Infantry Base in France and he joined the 7^th Battalion of the Northamptonshire Regiment. His territorial promotions counted for nothing here and he “reverted to Private” on embarkation. He was given the new Regimental Number of 201286.

As we have seen his cousin, Ted Abbott, had been posted to the 7^th and returned to France on 15^th January 1918 after more than a year away due to an ankle injury. The first three months of 1918 were spent in trying to build up the defences in their area and it was at this time that they would probably have met up again. From then on, the two cousins would have been involved in the same military actions so we will not describe these again.

William had to revert to Private but, unlike Ted, he once more moved up the chain of command. He became an unpaid Acting Corporal on 8^th April 1918, possibly helping to run the sports when the 7^th had a brief respite on the coast near St Valery. For some reason, he fell foul of his superiors, for on 25^th May 1918 he reverts to private “for inefficiency” the next day, however, he was appointed to unpaid Lance Corporal and on 5^th December to Acting Sergeant.

William’s only injury had been when he sustained a sprain to his left ankle on 3^rd October 1918 while on duty but he was stated to be “not to blame”. It was not a deliberate injury to get him a ticket home.

The Armistice was on the 11^th November 1918 but as we have seen with Ted, the 7^th stayed in France into the new year. William signed his Disability Statement on 20^th February 1919 and on this he is shown as Sergeant, so it seems that his promotion had been confirmed. He was examined in France and signed to confirm that he “was not suffering from a disability due to my military service”. He was given a Protection Certificate and Certificate of Identity at Purfleet on 1^st March 1919 and was given a 28-day furlough. He was “disembodied” on 29^th March 1919.

Oddly, his medal roll only has him listed as a Corporal but this may have been written up before his later promotion was established. He was entitled to the Victory and British medals for serving in active theatres of war. William’s war was over and for him there appear to have been, among all the slaughter and mayhem some benefits. In the British Trade Union Members Service and Casualties List 1914-18, published in 1920, a W. H. Abbott is shown as a member of the National Union of Teachers who served in the Great War. William would have had to settle back into civilian life and after all his injury-free time at the Front the Northampton Mercury reported:

Mr. William H. Abbott of Ringstead, who recently suffered serious injuries in a motor accident is making good progress in Kettering Hospital.

It seems that William went into teaching almost immediately after he returned, probably as a PT Instructor in a school, although this is not confirmed. We do know that he was a teacher from the following report in the Northampton Mercury on Monday February 19^th 1923 under the heading “Physical Education”,

The Elementary Sub-Committee reported that the Board of Education had intimated that the services of Mr. W. H. Abbott as Physical Training Demonstrator and Organiser could not be treated as “recognised service” for the purpose of the School Teachers’ (Superannuation) Act, 1918, and that Mr. Abbott had made application for an increase of salary to compensate him for the loss of pension rights consequent on this decision.         

Mr Allebone said that the Board had treated the Committee in a mean and contemptible manner over this appointment, which was only made somewhat reluctantly, at the request of the Board. They could, of course, terminate Mr. Abbott’s engagement and let him return to his old job as a teacher, but he thought the present work should still be carried on whatever the Board might say.

It was decided that Mr. Abbot re re-appointed as from December 18^th, 1922, at a salary of £303. 6s. 9d., rising as from April 1, 1923, to £325.

Perhaps William was thinking of safeguarding his future life, for, in 1924 he married Kathleen Bull. In the 1911 Census, Kathleen, daughter of John Bull and Emily, was an assistant teacher. Her father was the local Ringstead tailor.

Over the next decades we see William setting up a number of successful sporting bodies and running events. He was secretary of the Leather Trades Athletic Association and in April 1927 William, as the County Organiser of Physical Training for Schools, convened a meeting at Wellingborough to form a Northamptonshire Schools Athletic Association and to affiliate to the national body. In the years that follow we see William organising an annual schools’ Championships.

Kathleen Abbott Many thanks to Jane Baldock nee Riseley for 2 family photos

William would have been about sixty years’ old. I am not sure if this was also the end of his working life.

We do know that the couple moved to Mersea Island, near Colchester, in Essex. William died there in 1978 aged 88 and Kathleen followed him a year later aged 87.

References:
Ringstead Roll of Honour 1919. www.rushdenheritage.co.uk.

Ringstead Registers and Censuses. E & W. Marriage Index & Death Index. E & W National Probate Calendar 1979. www.Ancestry.com.

William’s Medal Roll; Army Records. www.Ancestry.com.

7^th(S) Battalion Northamptonshire regiment 1914-18 by H.B. King M.C. Late Captain 7^th Northamptonshire Regiment (Aldershot 1919). www.lib.militaryarchive.co.uk/library.

1939 Register of England and Wales www.findmypast.co.uk.

The Long, Long Trail www.longlongtrail.co.uk.

Northampton Mercury and Chronicle & Echo (various dates) www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk