'SERVICEMEN WE KNOW'
Lance/Cpl Albert Edwards, Albert was the 4th and youngest son of Thomas Cousins Edwards and wife, Sarah Jane (nee Jackson) who were living at 75 Chelmsford Street at the time. Thomas was recorded on the birth certificate as a 'tinplate worker'. Thomas and Sarah Jane had both been born in Cambridgeshire (Thomas in Chatteris and Sarah Jane in Doddington). Thomas had come to live in Oldham, in the early 1880s, to work as a tinsmith in one of the mills. Sarah Jane joined him and they were married at St. Paul's, Oldham, in 1884. However, although their first child, Gertrude Jackson, was born in Oldham in 1885, their next two, Henry and Stanley were born in Cambridgeshire, when Sarah Jane returned to be with her mother for their birth. They were registered in 1886 and 1887, in Doddington. Then it was back to Oldham where Tom was born in 1889 and Albert in 1891. Looking at the census returns, for 1871 and 1881, both in Chatteris, we can see that Thomas's father, Henry, was a blacksmith, also born in Chatteris and his mother was called Mary. In 1871, Thomas was a 7year old child with an older brother and sister. In the 30 years between 1881 and 1911, we can learn that : * Thomas came to Oldham and got married in 1884. * Thomas and Sarah Jane would go on to have 6 children between 1885 and 1895 ... 4 boys and 2 girls. * Thomas was still a tinplate worker on the 1891 census. * In the 1890s Thomas set-up in business as a cycle maker, at 26 Union Street and subsequently expanded into a motor garage, in premises in Phoenix street, in which he was assisted by his three sons, Henry, Tom and Albert. * On the 1901 census, the family is living at 26 Union street, in Oldham, where Thomas is recorded as a 'cycle agent'. His eldest son, Henry, age 15 is working with him. * "Thomas died at a young age in 1909, but the sons continued to run the business." * In 1910, Tom married Lilly Hulme. * On the 1911 census Tom and Lilly are living a 9, Bottom o'th' Moor, Oldham. Tom is recorded as a 'Taxi cab driver'. * On the 1911 census, widowed Sarah Jane is still living at 26 Union Street, with her daughter, and three of her sons (Henry, Albert and Stanley). It was recorded that she had 6 children from the marriage, one of whom had died. A search on Find my Past revealed a daughter, Maud Edwards, born in 1895 (2nd quarter), whose mother's maiden name was Jackson. There is also a death recorded for a Maud Edwards, in 1900 (1st quarter) when she would have been 4, almost 5 years old. "1914 ... "It seems that Albert was on a visit to his grandparents in Cambridgeshire when the First World War started and, caught up in the enthusiasm at the beginning of the war, signed-up to join the army in September 1914 and hence joined the Cambridgeshire Regiment. * Their brother Stanley died in 1919. * 1939 Register ... Tom, with his wife Lilly is living at 24 Counthill Road, in Oldham. He is recorded as a 'Motor mechanic, maintainence[sic] undertaker' * Thomas, his daughter Maud, son Tom and daughter-in-law Lilly, share a grave in Chadderton Cemetery. "Sadly, although born and brought up in Oldham, but with no family still in Oldham, Albert's name is not recorded on the Oldham War memorial." However, he is remembered on the Memorial in Doddington and his obituary was in the Cambridgeshire Many thanks to David Edwards for sharing this story with us. Sources: |
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