Claude served in France during WW1 and also, in 1919, the Russian Revolution where he was shot and consequently had his left leg amputated. After the war he became a clerk in the civil service. Two of his daughters still have his army notebook which is full of snippets about his day to day life during wartime and the reference he makes to his injuries [Click to continue…]

Douglas Leonard Rayment, the son of Leonard Rayment (a clerk in the tobacco trade) and Elsie Rayment née Kirk, was born in North London, England on 17th December 1912. He was the eldest of three children, his birth being followed in 1916 by that of a sister named Jean Elsie Rayment and in 1921 by a brother named Kenneth Gordon Rayment. After leaving [Click to continue…]

Robert was born on 14 May 1881 at 34 Hatley Rd, Islington, the eldest surviving child of the 12 (of which 5 died when young) born to Robert Melton Armitage (1846-1910) and Ellen Armitage nee Pinnuck (1855-1913). 34 Hatley Rd is a modest two storey terraced house, which still exists. In 1885 the family was still living at 34 Hatley Road. This is the [Click to continue…]

Sydney is the eldest child of Arthur Philip Wharton (1867-1925) and Ellen Rose Matthews (1862-1925). He had one brother called Hugh Wharton (1896-1959) and a sister called Kathleen Wharton (1899-1986). He was christened at St Andrews Church, Bircham Tofts on 22 December 1895. In 1901 census, aged 6 he was living at Pond House in Bircham Tofts, [Click to continue…]

James Frederick Rayment was born at Hackney, London, in October 1873, the sixth and last child of an Essex born Blacksmith named Anthony Rayment and his wife Anne Rayment née Keeble. James was only seven years old when his father died at the age of 54 leaving him, together with his three brothers and two sisters, to be brought up by his mother Anne [Click to continue…]