Janet Asher of Derwent Avenue, Milford sent some fascinating photos of her grandparents – the Watsons – who lived in Milford. Her great grandfather Samuel Watson and his wife (pictured 2nd row down, photos 2 & 3 across) had all 9 of their sons serving in the Great War.
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Tim Sanders of Milford has kindly sent in some information about this photo of Maurice Watson:
‘Maurice was in the 2nd Battalion Grenadier Guards and enlisted between January 1913 and January 1914 meaning he went over with the first draft of British men in 1914. He was a regular soldier.
Here is his medal card which shows his ‘date of entry’ as 13.8.14:
The 15 year old Maurice is on the 1911 census (see below) living at 56 Hopping Hill working as an apprentice engineer at the cotton mill.
Maurice died on 15th April 1915 at Le Treport Hospital of illness.
Incidentally, after 1st Ypres in November 1914, he was one of only 140 to remain (out of 1,000 men in August), the battalion suffering particularly badly in the opening months of the war.
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- Nurse gathered together in Belper
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- Died for his country 1915
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- Jack Watson, Janet Asher’s grandfather, is on the back row, second left. But who are the other men gathered together at The New Inn?
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- A family snapshot on Hopping Hill. Some faces are blurred as they didn’t stand still enough! Note the smoke issuing from the mill chimney
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- Family portrait in the allotment
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- Janet’s great grandfather in his allotment greenhouse
