Emily Sophia Wallis married Walter Dansy Emptage in 1920 when she was 22.
My mother had told me that Emily was adopted and I thought that there was little chance of finding her birth mother. However, thanks to the resourcefulness of Joan Leary, a member of Team Emptage, I was able to trace Emily’s birth.
Given her adoption, I expected Emily’s birth to be a sad event but I found the circumstances were even more upsetting than I expected.
Family poverty following the death of his father when Walter was just one year old probably led to Walter joining the Royal Fusiliers Special Reserve in 1913 when he was 17 and served in World War I. His military career continued when Walter enlisted in the RAF in 1923, serving for four years, including in Palestine. And he was still young enough to serve in the army when war broke out again in 1939.
But life for Walter took a darker turn after the war.
What did you do in the war, Mummy?
Leaving school just a few months before the start of World War 2, Eileen became a telephone operator in the Civil Service and was one of thousands who worked to keep communications going throughout the country. They worked shifts to maintain the service 24 hours a day, often sleeping on camp beds at the telephone exchanges. They stayed at their switchboards in the midst of bombing raids. They were the unsung heroes.
But was there even more to Eileen Joyce Emptage?
Edward’s twin brother died in World War 1 but Edward survived. He was awarded the Belgian Croix de Guerre in the process but at what cost to himself and to his family?
His son David begins to understand his father’s emotional distance.
As part of our One-Name Study, we are keenly interested in establishing the connection between the Emptages of the Isle of Thanet, who were there at least from the 1400s and the Emptages who arrived in the Isle of Sheppey in the early 1700s.
Alfred’s father and grandfather were mariners, as were his six brothers. Together with three of his brothers, he took part in saving the crew of the Northern Belle. They were considered heroes and received a medals. But Alfred was to die a difficult death, aged just 45, in a mental asylum.
