Early Life
Alfred was the youngest of four children born to William George Watson, a bricklayer from Loddon, and Emily (nee Smith), a domestic servant from nearby Carleton St Peter (who was born illegitimate, and her father’s name was not recorded on the Carleton St Peter marriage register in August 1887).
The birth of the couple’s first child, Blanche Emily Watson, was registered early in 1888; Harry George was born on the 1st September 1889, Kate Lucy on the 24th August 1890 and Alfred William’s birth is recorded as the 1st November 1891. (Although in later life , on the 1939 Register, Alfred would give it as 1892 – his birth was officially registered in the 4th quarter of 1891). All the children were baptised in Holy Trinity Church in Loddon, pictured above on a contemporary postcard.
Alfred’s father, William, died aged just 30 and was buried in Loddon churchyard in April 1895. Tragically, over three days, between the 25th and the 27th April of that year, William’s father (also called William) died aged 58, William himself as well as his younger brother, 14-year-old Frederick. Clara, his 28-year-old sister, died the following month. Clearly, a very infectious bout of disease had hit the town.
William’s widow, Emily, was now left to raise four young children alone with little support and very few options.
In late 1896 or early 1897, a widower named Edward Bennington, moved to the area from Wymondham with his younger children to work as a shepherd in Carleton St Peter (and close to where his oldest son, Ernest Bennington, was living and working on a farm neighbouring the Watsons’ home on Pye’s Mill Road just to the north of Loddon). Perhaps it was through Ernest that Emily Watson and Edward Bennington met; in any event, they soon set up a home together in Carleton St Peter and in April 1898, Emily gave birth to a son they named Edward Reginald – although the birth was not officially registered. An insight into their lives appeared in a newspaper account of the petty sessions for the following summer, published in the Norwich Mercury on August 8th, 1899, and retold here.
Edward and his wife, Emily (although they were not actually married – more about this later), were living near the church in Carleton St Peter and next door to John Preston, a market gardener.
It seems that a long running dispute between the neighbours came to a head and two charges were brought before the court. Firstly, John Preston was accused by Edward of using obscene language – for which the market gardener was found guilty and fined 2 shillings and costs.
Then at the same sessions, John Preston accused Emily Bennington of assault as she had thrown a pail of water over him. The bench, whilst remarking that such a ‘miserable squabble’ should never have been brought before them, found Emily guilty of a technical assault and fined her the same amount (but without costs). Perhaps it is not surprising that the Benningtons moved back to the Wymondham area soon afterwards.
By 1901 the Bennington family including the younger Watson children, Kate and Alfred, were living and working at Downham Farm on the outskirts of Wymondham (click here to read the newspaper account of the tragedy that befell the family at this time which is contained in the story of Walter Bennington). Emily was described as Edward’s wife, although they didn’t actually wed until 1926 when a civil marriage was registered in the Mutford district in Suffolk.
So, what happened to the two older Watson children?
Blanche, at 13 was also in Wymondham but living in as a servant with a family on Market Street. Harry George, Emily’s oldest son, aged 10, was boarded out and living with a widow in Carleton Rode, a village about 8 miles from Wymondham – and where he attended the local school. The practice of ‘boarding out’ of children was not uncommon at this time. Children who might otherwise have been admitted to the workhouse were boarded with families (and often widows) who were paid a weekly sum to look after them. Whilst we don’t know the full details of how this arrangement came about, it was often through the intervention of the local vicar – and there are several cases in Carleton Rode during this time. See below for biographical details of Blanche and Harry Watson.
In 1904, the Bennington family, along with the younger Watson step-siblings, Kate and Alfred, moved to Carleton Rode where they lived on the Fen.
Alfred was admitted to Carleton Rode school along with his slightly younger stepbrother, Walter Bennington in October of that year (tellingly Alfred’s name is given as Bennington on admission). He would have left school aged 12 or 13 the following year and we know from newspaper accounts that he went to work as an agricultural labourer alongside his step father, Edward Bennington, who was a shepherd working for Eldon Smith, a local farmer and builder. Edward’s oldest son, Ernest, had joined the regular army in 1905 and his younger brother, Walter, followed suit in 1909 – but their stepbrother Alfred remained a farm labourer until war intervened.
Alfred Watson was conscripted into the Suffolk Regiment in June 1916. Two days before he left, he married local girl, Kate Emms, in Carleton Rode Church and set off for war. He was immediately transferred into the Essex Regiment and spent the next six months training as a ‘rifle bomber’.
He would have been part of a bombing team that usually consisted of nine men at a time: a non-commissioned officer (NCO), two throwers, two carriers, two bayonet-men to defend the team and two ‘spare’ men for use when casualties were incurred. During an attack on an enemy trench, the ‘rifle bombers’ would be responsible for racing down the trench and throwing grenades into each dugout they passed, followed with rifle fire and bayonets (provided you weren’t killed or wounded in the initial attack).
Alfred arrived in France as part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on Christmas Eve, 1916. He served until the end of the war and suffered from many ailments associated with trench life – diarrhoea, boils, scabies, and repeated bouts of dysentery. Twice he was invalided back to the UK for treatment but returned to the front when fit enough.
At the beginning of April 1918, Alfred spent a month in the Dysentery Convalescent Hospital at Barton on Sea near New Milton, Hampshire. There is a fascinating account of the same hospital which was also the depot for recuperating Indian army soldiers – click here.
In Alfred’s army service papers (although burnt, much of them are still legible), there is a very touching letter written after the Armistice by Kate to her husband’s regiment in France where she asks them if they can do anything to get her husband home – he has a job with his ‘master’ waiting for him and she sees many single men returning who have not completed as much service as Alfred.
He is finally transferred back to England in March 1919.
Two children are born to Alfred and Kate following the war; Leslie in the autumn of 1920 and (Wilbert) Haddon at the beginning of 1925.
Sadly, aged only 7, Haddon died following a long illness and he was buried in the Baptist Churchyard.
There is an interesting account of the funeral published in the EDP.
We know a little more about Alfred from the reminiscences of a neighbour and relative, Millie Bowden (nee Chapman) who grew up in Carleton Rode in the interwar years. She remembered Alfred as a pig farmer (although he is described as a cowman on the 1939 Register) – a tall man, who was illiterate but ‘knew money’ (wonderful expression!) He and his wife, Kate Emms (Millie’s aunt), brought up her older sister Lena when they moved from the Fen to the Flaxlands. Millie’s father was Walter Chapman – read his story here, together with more of Millie’s evocative stories of life in early 20th century Carleton Rode which also includes a wonderful photograph and account of Lena’s wedding in 1934.
When war was declared five years later, Lena was heavily pregnant and we know from the 1939 Register taken at the end of September that her surrogate mother, Kate (together with 18-year-old son, Leslie) went to live temporarily with the couple in nearby Besthorpe – who by then had a week-old baby. No doubt Kate’s motherly support was invaluable at this very anxious time and shortly afterwards Lena and her husband Percy named their baby, David Leslie Haddon Cornell – his middle names being taken from Alfred and Kate’s two sons.
Alfred died in November 1962 and Kate less than six months later. They are also buried in Carleton Rode Baptist Churchyard next to their son Haddon, who had died thirty years before them. Lena’s son lies nearby.
Funeral of Alfred William Watson, EDP, December 1962:
CARLETON RODE. The funeral service for Mr. A. Watson, of the Flaxlands. was held at the Baptist Church, the minister, Pastor A. Bancroft. officiating. Mr. Watson, who was 71, leaves a widow and one son. Immediate mourners were Mrs. A. Watson, Mr. and Mrs. L. Watson. Mr. and Mrs. P. Cornell. Mrs, H. Rush, Mrs. A. Buck, the Rev. E. Buck, Mr. and Mrs. J. Henderson, Mr. C. Emms and Mr. W. Chapman.
Now to describe what we know of Alfred’s siblings after they came to Carleton Rode.
Blanche Emily Watson
Although we don’t know if the oldest Watson sibling, Blanche, lived with the Benningtons in the village, we do know that she married a Carleton Rode man, Robert George Sturman, in 1906.
They had a daughter, Blanche Matilda Sturman, born on April 29th 1907, and baptised in All Saints’ Church. Two more children were born in the following three years, William Robert (1908) and Lucy Ethel (1910) but these children were not baptised. Sadly, this marriage did not last. By 1921, Blanche was living in Lowestoft with fisherman James G Turrell. We cannot yet find evidence of when the Sturmans divorced but Blanche married James Turrell in Lowestoft in 1939. Later the couple moved to South Wales. As for Robert, he had moved to Aslacton by 1921 and later lived in Bunwell.
Harry George Watson
What happened to Harry after 1901?
He would probably have left Carleton Rode school in the following two years and gone to work on a local farm. These were very difficult years for farming and many agricultural labourers had to leave the local area to find work, migrating to other areas in England as well as overseas. By the 1911 Census, Harry had moved to East Farm, Stillington, about seven miles from Stockton on Tees in County Durham, to work for farmer, William Gibbon, as a skilled horseman.
Three years later, in 1914, he married Olive Bishop, the daughter of a Stockton ironworker, at the same time as Olive gave birth to their first child, John George Watson (April 1914).
They went on to have more children (registered in the Stockton area with Bishop recorded as mother’s name):
Emily Watson (birth reg Q3 1915) – this was also Harry’s mother’s first name.
Olive Watson (Q4 1916)
Alfred (Q4 1919 – death registered the following spring) – this was also the name of Harry’s younger brother.
William (Q3 1921 – death registered at the beginning of the following year) – also the name of Harry’s father and grandfather.
Blanche (Q3 1923 – death registered at the end of 1924) – also the name of Harry’s older sister.
Kate – although her birthdate – 20.8.1925 – is recorded on the 1939 Register when the family were living in Carleton Rode, I cannot find her official birth registration – the one on Ancestry is for a Katie Watson, correct year and quarter (Q3 1925) and district (Stockton) but mother’s name is given as Fisher – perhaps their mistake? Kate was also the name of Harry’s younger sister.
Elsie (Q3 1927)
Ernest (Q2 1929)
William (Q4 1932) – presumably named to honour the son with the same name who died ten years earlier?
However, this was not the end of their connection to Carleton Rode as we know that Harry, Olive and their four youngest children were recorded on the 1939 Register living on the Flaxlands (the youngest child, William, is a redacted entry) – and near to where Harry’s younger brother Alfred Watson was living. His mother, Emily Bennington, had died in the village in 1936 and was buried in the cemetery. His sister, Kate, was also in the village (see below).
So, did they move before the war or just for the duration? Clearly, the family returned to the north-east after the war and many of Harry and Olive’s descendants still live in the Stockton area.
We are thrilled to have been in contact with Harry’s great great grandson, Luke Watson, who has kindly sent us these photographs of John George Watson, one during his service in the Second World War and one of him in later life.
Kate Lucy Watson
When Alfred’s sister, Kate, left school at around the time that the family moved to Carleton Rode in 1904, she went to work as a house parlour maid at The Abbey, Eye, where another Carleton Rode girl, Jane Rush, was the cook. The Rush family were long established as agricultural workers in Carleton Rode but by 1911 when Kate married Jane’s brother, Frederick T Rush, he was described as a carpenter. The couple lived first at Greenways in Bunwell where they had a son, Harry William, born on the 12th April 1912.
In 1916, Fred was called up to serve in World War 1 and he joined the Royal Engineers as a sapper (35239) with the Gloucestershire Regiment the following spring, noting on his attestation papers that he was a skilled carpenter and joiner.
One document lists all the items that he had in his kit bag (the better for ensuring that it was all returned!)
After training, he was sent to France in September 1917 where he served until September 1919. He was awarded a 40% disability pension for a year after demobilization.
In the 1920s the couple moved back to Carleton Rode, and on the 1939 Register Kate (now just known as Lucy) was living with her husband (plus one redacted entry) on the Fen, probably very close to where the Benningtons had lived earlier. Kate died in 1973 (two years after her husband) and they are both buried in Carleton Rode cemetery. Their son, Harry William Rush, died in 1992 and he was buried in the same cemetery – as was his son Michael William Rush who died in 1976 aged 28.