Sarah Kehaya writes:
I remember my grandpa as
a round old man with a moustache who was always in his
greenhouse looking after tomatoes and chrysanthemums!
In his waistcoat pocket there were always sweets which he
gladly shared with his grand-daughter! On clearing out my
mother’s house on her death, I was surprised to find, in a
box of odds and ends, a bar brooch. Curiosity heightened!
What was it? Whose was it? – the date was clearly 1917,
the initials RGA clearly evident – and all impressed onto an
old silver sixpence. Could this be grandpa’s? - Or a gift for
granny? The questions began!
Internet research – the first port of call these days – has
revealed nothing about the brooch. And of course no-one is left
in the family who has any information about grandpa.
Other treasures then emerged: his training book –
(pictured)
immaculately presented with
beautiful handwriting, gorgeously
detailed and coloured diagrams regarding the installation and wiring of
state of the art
telephone systems! But on the front page of this book, his service number! Gold-dust!
Research could begin – and it has! His full service record is accessible on the National
Archives website, revea he was stationed for a while in Plymouth, trained in Otley; that
he had to be treated for TB; that he got married on Christmas day 1917 in his parents’
house ... and a great deal more I knew nothing about!!
So ... can you help
KEVICC REMEMBER?
•
Are there people in your family who served in WW1?
•
Do you have cap badges, service records, photographs,
medals, uniforms - lurking in boxes, in the attic?
•
Do you have relatives who hold the stories of those who
were very much active and alive across the Great War but
who are no longer here to ask?
•
Did any of them attend King
Edward VI School, Totnes?
Page 9
Subjects > History
KEVICC held a two minute silence at 11 o'clock on the morning of 11 November.
This Year marks the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War. Over the next Year it
will be the 100th Anniversary of the deaths of KEVICC students who died during fighting in this
war:
Private Jack Marks
2nd Battalion Devonshire Regiment
Sargent Cederic Collisson
British Columbia Regiment, Canadian Army
Private Ralph Clifford Tucker
5th City of London Battalion the London Rifles
Corporal David Thomas Warren
of the 1st/23rd Battalion the London Regiment
Lieutenant CH Whidborne
1st/28th London Regiment (Artists' Rifles)
The History Department at KEVICC invite you to be part of our on-going commemoration
of World War One: KEVICC REMEMBERS. We would like to hear and record the stories;
photograph the artefacts; get people talking at home about their ancestors.
They have made you who you are!!
If you would like to join in KEVICC REMEMBERS, please make contact with the History
Department team:
Derek Davies, Cat Gray, Nick Crosley, Sarah Kehaya.
If you would like ideas about how to begin researching family history, please contact
Sarah Kehaya.
