It’s been a little while since I’ve picked up my quill and
dabbled down any recent thoughts…..I blame this partly on my typewriter which
is my more random ‘go to’ than public blogging. However today I thought I would
reflect on the 1918-2018 centennial. One Hundred years since the Great War to
end all wars finished. To my surprise whilst
doing my genealogy I’ve discovered that 3 of my 4 great grandfathers served
during the Great War as well as several great granduncles. Today I thought I’d
mention my great grandfather Charles Hawkins of Middlesbrough, 21 Lune Street
to be exact. He was born in 1898 on the
27th June at 9 Elden Lane, Warrington in the County of Lancaster the
child of Margaret Hannah Hawkins (formerly Rank) and Charles Hawkins although
his uncle John Thomas Hawkins appears to be his probable father according to
his Military service attestation records. Certainly Great Grandad Charlie was
not raised by Charles Hawkins senior but was raised by his Aunty Stroyd at 28
Lune Street…..so I guess it’s probably true.
What’s interesting when I looked into my great grandfather Charlie, he was a career soldier and during the course of his life obtained six
medals for both his military and civil service. I did notice that as gramps was a special
constable during WW2 he should have automatically qualified for the Defence
Medal but probably he didn’t apply for it. So I wrote to the Cabinet Office in
London and they confirmed that he did indeed qualify for it, AND they
kindly sent me his medal which I stitched to his other medals bringing Charlies
medals up to seven in total. From his service records I could see he served
during WW1 with the Sherwood Foresters & the Kings Shropshire Light
Infantry, quite a long period in the 1920’s & 30’s as a Sapper in the Royal Engineers and then
briefly again during the earlier part of WW2 as a member of the Pioneer Corps. There
appears to be some cross over service with Charlie working as a Special Constable
during 1939-42 and then with the Civil Defence.
Charlie died on the 7th February 1969 still living at 21 Lune Street and my Auntie Carol his daughter was the informant. Given this was nearly 50 years ago seems like a nice moment just to reflect on an interesting piece of family history.
