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.
George William Emptage
Descended from a long line of mariners, George William Emptage joined the Royal Navy on his 18th birthday. In civilian life he became a postman but when war was declared in 1914, he transferred from the Naval Reserves to active service.
Boy Saved from Drowning
A boy swept out by the tide was saved from drowning in Margate by a passer-by and two local boatmen
Fined for poaching
George Emptage appears in court charged with poaching
A Boatman’s Life
Born into a family of generations of mariners, Albert John Emptage earnt his living by the sea, having begun to work with boats at the age of eight. Whilst he had a turbulent domestic life, his skill at sea was undisputed. Albert was a member of the Margate lifeboat service for 40 years, many of them as coxswain. It was not just his height which made him a ‘giant of a man’.
A Brush with Life
Frank Sidney Smith was born in Thanet Union Workhouse. He had a difficult start in life, spending his early life in the children’s home at Manston. And much of his adult life was traumatic.
Art became Frank’s therapy, a way of processing his life and understanding himself. His work has become recognised as “an extraordinary work of social history.” Anthony Daniels, The Telegraph, 2001