| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
Max Grunert was born in Beverley on 20 Dec 1893. He was one of four children born to Richard Max and Mary Grunert. Richard was born in Schmoellen in the Duchy of Sachsen-Altenburg, Germany in 1864. He became a naturalised British citizen on 26 Jun 1907 and took an oath of allegiance in Beverley before William Spencer, JP, on 6 Jul 1907. Richard was a clockmaker and jeweller and had a business on Butcher Row, Beverley, later the family lived at 6 Railway Street. Max attended Beverley Grammar School, he was a member of the Beverley Cricket Club and of the Church Lads’ Brigade from 1908-1910 where he played the bass drum. The family business closed in 1911 and the family was then involved in the running of the Needler Bros Sawmill, Hessle Road, Hull. His father was the manager and Max worked there as a clerk before the war. The family moved to 121 Coltman Street, Hull to live near the business. On 11 Sep 1916 Max married Florence Hotham at St Judes Church. Their first child, Maisie, was born in Mar 1917.
Along with his brother Frederick, born 1889, Max was a member of the East Riding Yeomanry before the war, both of them in “B” Company, reaching the rank of sergeant. Max joined the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion of the East Riding Regiment based in Withernsea in 1914 and did not go out to Egypt with the Yeomanry. However he was sent to Salonika in the Balkans, leaving Devonport in Sep 1916 and upon arrival was switched to the 2nd Battalion of the King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment where he served as a private. The fighting in this mountainous front was difficult due to extremes of climate and like so many British soldiers Max went down with malaria in Apr 1917, suffering recurrent bouts and before being invalided back to the UK in Dec 1918 after the victories on this front. He was awarded the War and Victory medals.
After the war Max worked as foreman and manager at Needler’s sawmill in Hull whilst his brother Fred was Managing Director. At the time of his death aged 75 in 1969 he was living on Southcoates Avenue, Hull. His wife died in 1986.
Includes information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |