Stanley James Edgar was born in Acton ,
Suffolk on
March 3, 1883. According to one source, his father Thomas was working at nearby
Great Waldingfield and Stanley was baptised there on April 8.[1]
By Robert Edwards, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6818764
One of his military records (see below) tells us while in the army he was or
claimed to be Anglican - this is hardly surprising as his father was a Church
warden in at least two of the places he lived.
In 1891 Stanley ,
a 'scholar' aged 8, he was living at home with his parents and 5 of his
siblings. 'Home' was now Great Bealings - his parents had fallen on hard times
and were forced to move around in search of secure employment.
In 1901, aged 18 and living with his parents at Stapleford
Abotts, he was working as a postman.
In 1911, still single, he's one of two boarders with the
Hollier family of Low Leyton (after 1921 Leyton), in Essex.
Mr Hollier's name
and details have been crossed out so the house seems to be headed by his wife. Stanley is now a grocer,
and he's described as a 'worker' so he's employed by someone else. This was the
job he'd be doing for at least the next 14 years, apart from a short period of
military service, although his appearance in trade directories from 1912 onward
suggests he ran his own shop after marriage..
That happened later in 1911: his marriage was registered in
Ongar in the last quarter of that year. His wife was Ethel Groves, who was born
on December 1, 1887.[2] The
wedding took place on December 26 in the parish church at Lambourne in Essex .[3]
The Church of St Mary and All saints, Lambourne: By John Winfield, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8107759
The
same Military Record from 1917 record tells us that Ethel was living at 1 Henniker Gardens
He was accepted into the RGA on June 5, 1917 - June 2 was
already printed and is given in other documents but the '2' has been crossed
out and '5' written in. The same thing's happened with the place of his
acceptance: it was 'Stratford , London ,
E.' but that's been crossed out and someone's written in 'Derby '. Derby was the location of the RGA's
Depot (Heavy and Siege)[5] and
I think it's clear what happened: Stanley presented himself at his local
recruiting centre on June 2, when he, as another documents tells us, was
'called up for service', and a couple of days later he was given a stamped form
and put on a train to Derby - another document tells us he arrived on July 4 - where
he was processed into the RGA 3 days later.[6] His service was to be 'for the duration' of
the war. As we shall see, it went rather beyond that.
But there is a
mystery as to his medical classification: it's given on his joining form as 'B1.
one'. - I think that's B1 with the 'one' added for clarity. This is what the
'B' category and the sub-category 'B1' meant after new guidelines were issued
on July 1, 1916:
B Free from serious
organic diseases, able to stand service on lines of communication in France
Subcategories:
Subcategories:
B1 Able to march 5
miles, see to shoot with glasses, and hear well.[7]
But a later form gives his classification as 'A' and another
even states that it was 'A1' when he joined at Derby . This is what the 'A' classifications
meant:
A able to march, see
to shoot, hear well and stand active service conditions
A1 fit for dispatching
overseas, as regards physical and mental health and training.
Some other details in his army records make me think 'B1' is
more likely, perhaps with a later re-classification as the army's losses mounted and more men were
needed for France .
In the category 'Slight defects not sufficient to cause rejection' we learn
that Stanley
had flat feet - which were also 'enlarged' and joint big toes. In addition his
'Vision' was 6/9 in both eyes - this is currently the minimum standard needed
for a driving licence (so-called 2-20 vision is 6/6). His weight at 160 lbs is
a little heavy for a man of 5 ft. 7.5 inches - if he were 5' 8" his
recommended range now would be 131-164 pounds, ideally somewhere in the middle.
But in other ways he does seem in reasonable shape. His
'Physical Development' is described as 'good'. His girth when fully expanded
was 36 inches and the range of his chest expansion was 3 inches - average for his
age and sex today would be just over 2.5 inches. He'd been vaccinated in
infancy and this had been kept up - he had four vaccination marks on his right
arm and one on his left - I wonderif that means he was left-handed? There were no marks indicating congenital
peculiarities or previous disease.
While I'm on the subject of Stanley's health, here's a note
in another document as to something dental happening on 15, October 1917
relating to 8 upper and 7 lower teeth. Unfortunately, I can't read the crucial
word, but I think it relates to a denture - perhaps on that date one with those
specifications was made, requested, measured for, lost....?
Stanley's Medical
Record seems to be stamped July 10, but the examination can't have taken place
then as it's noted that it was held at Stratford, so it probably occurred on
June 2 or 3rd before he was sent up to Derby. If the stamp really is July 10
(and it's not completely clear to me that this is the case) he was a long way
north of London .
On June 30 Stanley was
assigned to the RGA's Outer Defences on the island
of Inchkeith , the key fortress in the
defence of the Forth .[8] He
stayed in what was probably a relatively easy posting for about ten months.
The Firth of Forth, Scotland: Wikipedia: Courtesy of User Nilfranion
He was sent to Catterick in Yorkshire
to join the Second Siege Artillery
Reserve Brigade on April 22, 1918. This was probably for some more training before
he actually got involved in the fighting. On May 28 he left Catterick and he disembarked
in France
on May 30. There's an entry on one document: 249 sp or sg( ?) 17.6.18. This
might mean indicate a transfer to the 249 Siege Battery on June 17, but if so
this was soon changed, because on June 21 he joined the 188 Siege Battery which
had been in France
since October 1916. The note on his record for this move says 'From Base' - I
don't know exactly what this means. Another little mystery in this document is:
'Granted war pay at P'(rest illegible)
His post-war medal record is marked 'base dtls'. This
suggests that in spite of his rank as 'gunner' he might or might not have had
anything to do with the artillery guns themselves:
Base details would
typically include clerks who dealt with admin and looked after effects left at
the base and possibly battle casualty replacements.[9]
The Armistice of November 11, 1918 brought the fighting to
an end, but the business of de-mobilising the huge British army led to its own
problems; the initial policy of first releasing those with important jobs to go
amounted to 'last in, first out' and anger at this contributed to a number of mutinies,
which led to a change of tack. In the end, it was the more recent conscripts who
had to wait.[10]
On February 10, December , 1919 he was examined in France and
signed a form stating he did not claim to be suffering from a disability
as result of his service. On February 15, 1919 he was sent to Shorncliffe Dispersal Centre close to
Folkestone to prepare for release. On February 17, 1919 he was given his 'Protection
Certificate and Certificate of Identity' which was needed to help smooth his way in civilian life. We also learn that Stanley had no 'specialist
military qualification'.
He got 28 days leave on 27 February, 1919 and it was during that period that his service in the army official ended. He was finally demobilised March 16, 1919 at Dover , although he was placed in
the Class Z Reserve:
Soldiers who were being demobilised,
particularly those who had agreed to serve “for the duration”, were at first
posted to Class Z. They returned to civilian life but with an obligation to
return if called upon. The Z Reserve was abolished on 31 March 1920.[11]
In fact, his form states 'Z.9'. but I don't know what the '9' means. His 'Protection' certificate told him where he'd have to re-join in case of an 'emergency' - Shoreham in Sussex, where the RGA had a camp.
After his demobilisation, Stanley took up his old life. He and
Ethel had a son in late 1921 (name of living person withheld) and he's back in Kelly's Directory for 1922 and 1925 as a
grocer, still of 1, Henniker Gardens, East Ham.
'Jobbers' before the 1986 reorganisation of the Stock
Exchange acted as the theoretical owners of the shares sold by
stockbrokers and theoretical source of the shares they purchased. It's possible
that Stanley
did this after 1925 or part-time while he was a grocer, but I have another
theory. This is what one source tells us about 'jobbers':
The term
"jobber" is also used to describe a small-scale wholesaler
or middleman in the retail goods trade.[12]
So I think Stanley ,
as well perhaps as having his own shop, was a 'jobbing grocer' who supplied
produce to retail outlets.
But there is evidence that at some point he left both east London and the grocery business.. His son, born in 1921, was interviewed in a local paper about
his WW11 experiences and he told the reporter he'd grown up on a poultry farm near Epping. Stanley 's parents and some of his siblings
lived in Theydon Garnon on the outskirts of Epping and at some point they owned
or rented a farm - but the memories of those of us who visited in the late
1950s include hay bales and bees not chickens. Perhaps Stanley
had a farm of his own nearby.
[3] 'Descriptive
Report on Joining' (in a packet headed New Soldier's Record), 1917.
[4] Name of
possibly living person withheld - in order to post details of a person on this
blog I need to have seen 1) a death certificate or other plausible evidence of
decease or 2) evidence of a birth more than 110 years before the present - for
the necessity of this cautious policy consider the case of Ethel Groves/Edgar
below!
[6] However,
another document seems to suggest he was accepted at Derby on July 2. I think this was either a
mistake or refers to some further development on that date.
[10] http://www.1914-1918.net/demobilisation.htm
[12] http://www.investopedia.com/terms/j/jobber.asp
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