| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
Nor Metcalfe, sometimes known as Norman, was born on 5 February 1881, in Beverley, the eldest son of Aaron and Elizabeth Metcalfe. At that point Nor also had three half siblings from his father's first marriage to Hannah Armitage and an elder sister. The family moved to Beverley from North Cave before Nor was born. A younger brother John was born 1885. Nor was baptised, and his unusual name was put down as Noah, at St Mary's church the 4 Mar 1881, in everything else, legal documents included, save for the announcement of his death, war memorials and on his headstone, where he is called Norman, he is referred to as Nor.
In 1902 Nor joined the local trade union, a joiner by trade, but was in arrears and exluded the following year. In Jun 1909 he married Sarah Jane Shillito, the daughter of a farm labourer from Tadcaster, and settled down in Mill Lane. By Oct 1909, Harry Shillito Metcalfe had come along and the family was living at 2 Bethlehem Place, Beverley. Alice was born 1911 and Norman in 1913. By then Nor and Sarah Jane had moved to 5 Grove Terrace, having previously being at 2 Crown Terrace, Lairgate.
Nor enlisted in the 4th Reserve Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment. Private 8979, Nor Metcalfe, died at Catterick on 3 Feb 1917, aged 37. He is remembered on the Beverley War Memorial and the Beverley Minster Memorial and is buried in St Mary's Cemetery, New Walk, Beverley, just at the far side of the chapel.
Nor did not receive any medals for his war service.His picture was printed in the Beverley Guardian, his name misspelled as Medcalfe and his address wrongly stated as Well Gardens. At the time of Nor's death his wife, Sarah was living at 11 Prince's Gardens and this the address given in Nor's death announcement in the same newspaper. Sarah's address changed to 3 Burton Terrace, Chantry Lane and the sad news that Harry Shillito Metcalfe, Nor's first child, passed away in Hull Royal Infirmary, aged just ten and was, on 11 Oct 1919, buried in the same cemetery as his father.
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |