When War Came Again

I was never a Boy Scout but I believe their motto to be that worthy phrase, 'Be Prepared'.  This hasn't been our present government's position regarding either the pandemic or the problems of cross-channel freight (those thousands of lorries queuing at Dover have dropped out of the news; I wonder whether they have all moved by now).  Despite Churchill's agitations, it wasn't the situation at the outbreak of war in 1939 either.  However, preparations for one upcoming challenge at that time were well in hand, ... the 1941 Census.

Within four weeks of Mr Chamberlain's radio address that Sunday morning, adaptations had been made and forms printed and circulated for the compilation of what we now know as the 1939 Register.  It wasn't a census and the information collected was slightly different but, to genealogists in the last few years, it has proved very helpful, bridging the gap between the latest available census of 1911 and the memories of our oldest relatives today.  And the Register provided the gateway to this week's story from my favourite pastime.

As last week's episode revealed, I was fascinated by the fact that the wife of one of my 3x-great-aunt's extended family had been born in Ireland.  Thwarted in my endeavours to discover a military reason for her East Anglian parents being there, and forsaking any hope of discovering how she met her husband, I decided to move forward in time and see what happened to her children.  George William Batley returned from South Africa on 11th February 1903 and lost no time in marrying his sweetheart.  As noted last week, their first child was born later that year.

By 1911 their family, living at 23 Alderson Street, comprised George, that first son, and siblings Charles, 5, and Florence, 2.  Later searches revealed that Florence and George had another daughter, Elsie, who was born later in 1911.  When confronted by George's illness and later death during the spring of 1915, Florence was pregnant with their fifth child.  Who can imagine her emotions when a healthy daughter Eva was born that October?

As I tried with mixed success to find these children in 1939, I first explored the possibility of a marriage for Florence junior, that 2-year-old of 1911.  Sure enough she had married ... to Frederick David Balls, in 1935.  As is often the case, young men are not to be found in the 1939 Register, because anyone serving in the armed forces was not included in the registration.  I did find Florence, registered at the home they had established in Daplings Buildings, the exact location of which I've been unable to establish.  However, this entry had been ruled through.  I checked out another possibility and found her also entered in the household of steel erector Albert E Cornwell at 5 Alderson Street.

It was an address the familiarity of which escaped me at first.  I thought instead about this 30-year-old whose husband had now been called away on active service.  She had either closed up - or had completely abandoned - their home and now moved to a different part of the city: how had she found somewhere else to live as the unknown fates of wartime unfolded?  As I glanced at this family unit, wondering who else was in the household, I noticed the duplication of her name.  She was Florence A and so was Mrs. Cornwell ... and one of the others had the surname Batley!

Albert Edward Cornwell was born Weasenham in west Norfolk in 1883.  In October 1901, having been working as a groom, he enlisted in the Norfolk Militia; on 5th December, he transferred to the Norfolk Regiment but sadly his service papers don't appear to have survived.  Although, in 1911, he was recorded with the 2nd Battn. in Belgaum, India, any detail of his later service is unknown.  He surfaced again in post-war Norwich, where he met - and clearly made quite an impression upon - a young-looking widow who was actually some four years his senior.

Albert and Florence were married early in 1925, and their daughter Doreen was born that spring.  When the Register was compiled, Florence was shown as only two years older than her husband.  The last member of the household was Eva, the child born after her father's death in 1915.  My question was answered.  What could be more natural for the young wife at the start of the war than to be taken in by her mother's new family?  Sadly, she and Frederick never had children, and I was unable to find a record of his death.  Maybe he didn't return from the war.  If so, Florence didn't re-marry, for her death was recorded as Balls in 1981.

All the rest of the family survived the war.  Florence senior died in 1978, and Albert two years later. Eva married in 1941 and Doreen in 1956; both had families and died early in this century.