Avis Emptage had a difficult and complicated life but in 1913 she married Harold Harding and could have hoped for years of happiness to come. Alas, it wasn’t to be.
WW1 Military Biographies
We honour the memory of all our ancestors who played their part in World War One at home or away.
So we are pleased to present short biographies of all those whose names we have found in the military records.
William Alfred Emptage
William Alfred Emptage was 18 when he enlisted in the 3rd Battalion of The East Kent Regiment “The Buffs” in 1900, following his brother Henry Emptage who had joined in 1897. They both saw action in South Africa in the second Boer War. William transferred to the Royal Horse Artillery in 1902. In 1914, by then a reservist, William was one of the first to be called up at the outbreak of war.
Frederick John Emptage
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?
Emptage Men Who Gave Their Life in WW1 and WW2
“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.”
Henry Thomas Emptage
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.