| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
David Fenby was born in Beverley 10 Nov 1898 the youngest of eleven children of Foster Fenby, a tanner's labourer, and his wife Cecilia. When David was baptised in Beverley Minster on 5 Mar 1899, the family was living in Princes Gardens. They moved shortly afterwards to 3 Toll Gavel, where David grew up. He attended St Mary's School, Beverley and later became a pupil at Beverley Grammar School. David was a good swimmer and represented his school in inter-school swimming and diving competitions. On 12 Nov 1912, two days after his fourteenth birthday, he enrolled as a member of Beverley Church Lads Brigade.
He joined the Territorial Force as a very young recruit. The Beverley and East Riding Recorder of 16 Jan 1915 reported David Fenby was serving with Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own Yorkshire Regiment as a Boy Bugler and an item in the Beverley Guardian of 25 Dec 1915 said he was a Drummer. As the official age for service abroad was nineteen it is unlikely David went to the Western Front until he attained that age. He was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal - but not the 1915 Star which confirms his arrival in France as being after 1916. The Medals Rolls state he was Corporal David Fenby of the Machine Gun Corps and he was discharged from the Army on 16 Mar 1919. He applied for the Territorial Force War Medal on 17 Nov 1925. This was issued to him on 6 Jan 1926.
David Fenby married Jessie Whitton of Eastgate, Beverley in 1924. Jessie was the daughter of George Montague Whitton, a compositor and printer, and his wife Jane Elizabeth. By the time of the 1939 Registration, David and Jessie lived at England Springs, off Long Lane, Beverley, where they were long-term residents. He was working as a self-employed shoemaker. David, of England Springs, Beverley died on 7 Nov 1968. He was 69 years old.
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |