During the last four years there have been many ceremonies to mark the dead of the Great War.
They range from the very personal family ones to the large civic and national events commemorating the anniversary of battles fought out across the world.
And beside all of these there have been the three Remembrance Sundays which take on added significance as they have fallen during the centenary of that conflict.
We were lucky, of the six immediate members of our family who marched off to war, none were killed in action although so far I have not yet come across records for the deaths of those in our family who were Italian or German.
So despite what appears to be a lucky break I will today be thinking of George Davison who was born in Harpurhey in 1886, lived briefly in Chorlton and Hulme, served in the Royal Artillery and died on the Western Front on June 17 1918.
He had enlisted in 1914 at the age of 31, was married and had a young son and spent stretches in Woolwich and Ireland before being dispatched to France in the May of 1918.
What is remarkable is that we have an almost full set of letters which he wrote to his wife Nellie during 1915, 1916, and 1918, along with a series of documents which include his birth and marriage certificates, school record, employment details as well as the letters he wrote to Nellie before they were married.
George was three years older than Nellie and belonged to those “middling people.” His father was a solicitor’s clerk and George while working as a clerk attended night school studying English, Latin, French and Euclid which was hard work but as he wrote to Nellie “your future happiness as well as my own depends largely on the results of my studies during the next few years.”
Those were successful and their marriage in 1908 was followed by the birth of their son and his enlistment.
But for now I am left with just one twist in the story. The war letters refer to a Mr and Mrs Drinkal who lived in Eltham in south east London. Nellie in all probability stayed with Mrs Drinkal in 1915 and her husband may also have been billeted in the same house.
It formed part of an estate built during the war for the families of munitions workers employed at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich. I grew up in one of those houses and Mr and Mrs Drinkal lived in another just across the road.
It was Tricia Leslie who tracked down the house after I had told her of the possible connection and while it wouldn’t warrant even the smallest foot note in a history of the Great War it has significance for me.
Having have spent three years with the George Davison collection getting to know the family, sharing their ups and downs and following them as they coped with the separation of war I never expected that we would end up living beside each other.
Of course a full half century separates their time in Eltham from mine and it would be nonsense to think the accident of being in the same place makes me any closer to them, but if you wanted a link with the past and a link especially to a couple who lived out their lives in Manchester a century ago during the Great War this is as good as it gets.
George Davison, 1886-1918
Pictures; The George Davison Collection, courtesy of David Harrop.
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| George, Nellie & Duncan Davison, 1916 |
And beside all of these there have been the three Remembrance Sundays which take on added significance as they have fallen during the centenary of that conflict.
We were lucky, of the six immediate members of our family who marched off to war, none were killed in action although so far I have not yet come across records for the deaths of those in our family who were Italian or German.
So despite what appears to be a lucky break I will today be thinking of George Davison who was born in Harpurhey in 1886, lived briefly in Chorlton and Hulme, served in the Royal Artillery and died on the Western Front on June 17 1918.
He had enlisted in 1914 at the age of 31, was married and had a young son and spent stretches in Woolwich and Ireland before being dispatched to France in the May of 1918.
What is remarkable is that we have an almost full set of letters which he wrote to his wife Nellie during 1915, 1916, and 1918, along with a series of documents which include his birth and marriage certificates, school record, employment details as well as the letters he wrote to Nellie before they were married.
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| All well , 1915 |
Those were successful and their marriage in 1908 was followed by the birth of their son and his enlistment.
But for now I am left with just one twist in the story. The war letters refer to a Mr and Mrs Drinkal who lived in Eltham in south east London. Nellie in all probability stayed with Mrs Drinkal in 1915 and her husband may also have been billeted in the same house.
 |
| Medal issued to the families of men killed in action, 1919 |
It was Tricia Leslie who tracked down the house after I had told her of the possible connection and while it wouldn’t warrant even the smallest foot note in a history of the Great War it has significance for me.
Having have spent three years with the George Davison collection getting to know the family, sharing their ups and downs and following them as they coped with the separation of war I never expected that we would end up living beside each other.
Of course a full half century separates their time in Eltham from mine and it would be nonsense to think the accident of being in the same place makes me any closer to them, but if you wanted a link with the past and a link especially to a couple who lived out their lives in Manchester a century ago during the Great War this is as good as it gets.
George Davison, 1886-1918
Pictures; The George Davison Collection, courtesy of David Harrop.
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