Alfred was born into a long line of mariners but, perhaps realising not only that it was a difficult life but also a dangerous one, he and his four brothers turned their back on the sea and sought other means of making a living.
An assurance agent in Margate, Thanet, Alfred rose to the position of a Vice President of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (pictured) in New York.
A difficult childhood and an army career in which he obtained three good conduct badges. But his conduct as a civilian was questionable, as one young lady was to find out. But was there a happy ending?
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.
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.
“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.”
There is a well used but nevertheless very apt saying in family history research, that it raises more questions than it answers.
And that is so true of the story of two brothers, three women and seventeen children.
