Nelson Briggs was born in Bunwell on the 13th April 1892, the second son (and third child) of Robert and Georgeanna Briggs.
Nelson’s parents came from hardworking labouring families who had the ambition to move from agricultural workers to owning their own farms. They also knew the importance of education as both were born before the Board schools were established in every village (from 1879 in Bunwell) – and many of their own generation were illiterate. They clearly wanted their own offspring to have improved opportunities, as can be seen in the Eastern Daily Press (EDP) of the period.
(Researcher’s note: Delving into the history of this branch of the Briggs family, I became entirely engrossed in their early lives, especially that of Georgeanna. I will be adding her story shortly as I hope it gives a fascinating glimpse into 19th century life hereabouts.)
The Briggs children, starting with the oldest, Alice, attended Bunwell School from around 1891 and continued there after the family moved to Carleton Rode in 1900. Many of the Briggs children’s names can be found in newspaper reports of Bunwell School, especially when Mr William Norton Ager took over as headmaster in 1894. He was a very experienced teacher and ambitious for the school at a time when education was undergoing great changes. Reading the columns in the EDP and the Diss Express feels quite modern in many ways. Mr Ager was the teachers’ representative on the Norfolk Education Committee and became secretary of the local branch of the National Union of Teachers; the reports of their meetings were full of what should be taught on the curriculum and, as a science teacher, he felt strongly about extending lessons beyond ‘the 3Rs’. He received great praise for increasing the school attendance (and therefore the school received more money) – as well as ensuring that most children on the register attended regularly.
There is a wonderful report published in the EDP in 1905 which lists a very large number of children, 67 in total, who were awarded medals for regular attendance. Nelson Briggs had not missed a day in the previous two years – and by this time he would have been in his last year at school. The medals were presented by the visiting speaker, MP for South Norfolk – Arthur W Soames – who gave a rousing speech about how education was useful in all aspects of life, and that a science education when applied to industry and agriculture, was going to keep Britain’s place as a great trading nation. The photograph reproduced here, although a little out of focus, shows the children displaying their medals – although some of the faces suggest that they have just sat through a very long, and possibly, boring speech (to them at least!)
Nelson will be one of the older boys on the back row and his sister, Alice (who was an assistant teacher at the school), is second from the right on the back row. Younger sister, Eliza (known as Nora) was awarded a medal for one year’s attendance (aged 7) and will also be in the photograph.
In fact, both of Nelson’s sisters became qualified and registered teachers – amongst the first generation of women to do so – and they would certainly have been encouraged by Mr Ager before his early death, in post, in 1914.
Nelson left school in 1905 and probably went to work for his father at Sunset Farm on Flaxlands in Carleton Rode, where the family had lived since 1900. On the 1911 census, both he and his brother, Fred, were working with their father. However, by the time of his marriage in April 1915, Nelson was a farm labourer living in Fundenhall where he had already met his future bride, Ellen Louisa Reynolds, an agricultural labourer’s daughter. Ellen gave birth to their first child, Robert George Briggs, on the 13th June, 1914. In less than two months, the country was at war with Germany.
After their wedding, Nelson, Ellen and young Robert (later known as Bob) moved to Flaxlands, Carleton Rode, near to Nelson’s parents at Sunset Farm.
We know from his army papers that Nelson was taller than the average man of his time, at around 5 feet 10 inches, and he gave his occupation as ‘cowman’ when he joined up. However, Nelson did not enlist until required to do so in June 1916 and with a young child at home, he was not mobilised until the following February in 1917.
He was enlisted into the 4th East Kent Regiment, the Buffs, trained with them until May and then was sent to France with the BEF. However, on arrival he was transferred into the 1st London Regiment. This photograph of him with two comrades appears to show him wearing a cap with the London Regiment badge. Later (date unclear), he was transferred into the 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Regiment (Private 3705).
During five months at the Front, he suffered a bullet wound to the head (9th October 1917) and spent 20 days in No 2 Canadian General Hospital at Le Treport on the Normandy coast. Field notes record the scalp wound was very dirty and that they managed to get some shrapnel out before stitching him up and sending him to hospital. However, the wound did not heal and he was sent back to England to convalesce.
At this point, in May 1918, he was classified as unfit for front line duty and sent to the Royal Irish Fusiliers Garrison base at the Portobello Barracks in Dublin. He doesn’t appear to have been there for very long before being granted agricultural furlough at home in Norfolk. This was extended to August and then Nelson was posted to Greatham, near Hartlepool, Durham – also on agricultural furlough. However, he didn’t go – and this is where the story becomes a little complicated.
The Absent Voters List for 1918 states that Nelson was in the 1st London Regiment – clearly there was a great deal of confusion during battles at the front and therefore this is given as his regiment on the Roll of Honour board in Church. His army record states that he ‘absented himself from agricultural furlough’ and that he was ‘irregularly released from the Royal Irish Guards’.
The army stopped his pay in September 1918 and later papers in his Service Record state that he had absented himself from his regiment. This uncertainty for Nelson and his family rumbled on for the next two years; a policeman was even sent to the village to ascertain all the details. By June 1920, the Parliamentary War Pensions Bureau had become involved in trying to find a way to get Nelson’s pension to him – but he had to be formally released from the army first.
Nelson was finally discharged in September 1920 but without any demobilisation benefits. This would have meant the loss of several financial benefits such as ration allowance, clothing allowance and war gratuity (about two week’s wages for Nelson’s length of service). No doubt, the family would have regarded this as poor recompense for his contribution – and suffering – during the war.
Life in Carleton Rode gradually returned to a more normal existence. Extra efforts were made by different village institutions, including the churches and the local pubs, to provide events that would bring people together and help to heal the pain that continued to be endured by those who had returned. As we know so much better now, this would not only have been the physical consequences of war but also the mental and emotional strains that impacted on families at home as well – not that this would have been much discussed at the time.
Drawing matches (ploughing competitions) were restarted in the local villages, and ninepins, quoits and bowls leagues played out in the Plough Inn and the Farriers Arms. The British Legion was founded in 1921 and a local branch was established made up of many of our ‘old soldiers’ and their families. Fetes and carnivals grew in size and popularity – read about them here in the life story of their friend and neighbouring farmer, Ernest Chaney. References to Nelson and his brother, Fred Briggs, can be found in many newspaper reports of these events.
Nelson was always known as ‘Nett’ and both he and Fred married women called Ellen – inevitably, they were both known as ‘Nellie’! They played an active role in All Saints’ Church and their wives were the first members of what became the Parochial Church Council.
Nelson and Nellie welcomed their second child in December, 1929 – a boy they named Nelson William. Nelson and both of his sons can be seen in the photograph reproduced below which shows the Briggs’ family in 1934 when Nelson’s parents celebrated their Golden Wedding. It shows Robert and Georgeanna Briggs, their children and grandchildren.
From left to right:
Back Row – Robert (Bob – Nelson’s eldest son), Nelson with his younger son, Claudia and Jack (Fred’s older children), Hubert (the youngest of the Briggs siblings), and Fred
Front Row – Eileen (Fred’s youngest child), Nora (sister), Georgeanna, Robert, and Alice (oldest of the Briggs siblings)
Nelson and Nellie were first tenants and then owners of Greenways Farm on the Flaxlands in the village where they spent most of their married life together. Nelson died in 1964 and Nellie in 1974. They are buried together in the village cemetery.
We are very grateful to Sylvia Briggs, Nelson’s daughter-in-law, for the photographs of Nelson during the First World War; and thanks also to the late Vivian Frost (nee Dade), granddaughter of Fred Briggs, for other photographs of the Briggs siblings, including the Bunwell School images reproduced here. She was a great supporter of our project and shared her precious family archive with us.