Nathaniel Harry Beedham

Nathaniel was the son of Nathaniel and Julia Beedham (née Quenby also Quermby). His father Nathaniel Harry was born in Kimbolton, Huntingdonshire, in 1867, the son of Thomas and Sarah Beedham. He was baptised in Kimbolton parish church on 24 November 1867. In 1881 he was living with his widowed mother, Sarah (40), a grazier of 'about 20 acres', his siblings John (18), a butcher, and Alice (15). His mother Julia was born in Kempston, Bedfordshire, on 31 January 1867, the daughter of Richard, a corn merchant, and Susanna Quenby. She was baptised at Kempston parish church on 24 November 1867. Nathaniel Harry and Julia were married in Bedford in 1890 and had three children: Nathaniel b. abt 1895 New York, America, Elizabeth Alice b. St Neots Huntingdonshire 24 September 1899 and Marjorie b. Ravenstone Leicestershire on 15 September 1904. In 1891, the year after her marriage, Julia was living with her parents and siblings on High Street, Bedford. Nathaniel has not yet been traced on the census and it is possible that he had already left for America, with Julia joining him later, and before the birth of their first child, Nathaniel, in about 1885 (birth registered USA). Nathanield (30), occupation coachman, Julia (31) and Nathaniel (4) were registered on the incoming passenger list of SS Britannic, arriving in Liverpool from New York on 14 October 1898. By 1901 they were living in a cottage on Low Farm, in Graffham, St Neots, where their daughter Elizabeth Alice was born in September 1899. Nathaniel was working as a farm labourer (yardman). Their third child Marjorie was born in Leicestershire three years later in 1904, but by 1911 the family had moved to Ockbrook and they were living at Hopewell Nook, Ockbrook Draycott, Church Wilne, Derbyshire. Nathaniel was a cowman and his son a wagoner on a farm. Nathaniel's service record gives his parents' address as Victoria Avenue, Borrowash, Derby, and this was still their home when Nathaniel senior died on 21 October 1932. When the 1939 England & Wales Register was compiled, the widowed Julia was living on Cummings Street, Derby, with her married daughter Elizabeth Woodings (m. Ockbrook All Saints, 1929), her husband George Ernest (b. 27 November 1899 d. 1970) and their daughter Margery (b. 9 March 1932). Julia died in 1963 (J/A/S Derby) and Elizabeth in 1984 (Aug. Derby). Marjorie married Frank Dale at Ockbrook All Saints on 25 September 1928 and in 1939 she and Frank (b. 2 August 1896), a commercial traveller, were living in Newcastle under Lyme, Staffordshire. Marjorie died in 1982.

In 1911 he was a wagoner on a farm but worked as a fitter at the time of enlistment.

Victoria Avenue Borrowash Derby

Nathaniel Harry attested at Derby on 19 June 1914 on a Territorial Force service engagement (4 years' service in the UK). He was 19 years 10 months old. He transferred to embodied service on 5 August 1914 and served at home until 28 February 1915 and then with the Expeditionary Force in France from 1 March 1915. He was appointed unpaid lance-corporal on 23 November 1915 'In the Field'. The following year on 18 July 1916 he received a gunshot wound to the right buttock and thigh and died at No. 20 Casualty Clearing Station two days later on 20 July. He was buried in Warlincourt Halte British Cemetery, Saulty, France (grave ref. I.H.6). He qualifieid for the 1914/15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal. CWGC - Warlincourt Halte British Cemetery (extract): 'The site of the cemetery was chosen in May 1916. It was used from June 1916 to May 1917 by the 20th and 43rd Casualty Clearing Stations.'

This is a probable id. He is the only Great War fatality N Beedham cited by CWGC and UKSWD. His connection with the St Saviours/Meadows area is unknown. Another Nathaniel Harry Beedham from the Meadows served as a captain with 2nd Battalion Sherwood Foresters and won the MC at Cambrai. Although reported missing on 21 March 1918 (see Nottingham Evening Post, 2 April 1918; home address North Road, West Bridgford), he survived the war and lived until 1976. See David Nunn, Britannia Calls: Nottingham schools and the push for Great War victory (Knowle Hill Publishing, 2010 p.p.145-148). CWGC headstone personal inscription: 'Jesus Christ the first and the last' WMR 55461: Ockbrook and Borrowash War Memorial, Victoria Avenue, Erewash, Derbyshire (between the two villages of Ockbrook and Borrowash) - Nathaniel Beedham Registers of Soldiers' Effects: his mother Julia was his sole legatee