| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information
Frank Massey was born in Driffield the 18 Nov 1892, the eldest of nine children of Charles Massey, a gardener, and his wife Ada nee England. The family moved from Little Driffield to 72 Norwood Walk, Beverley. In 1906 Frank was indentured as an apprentice to Harry William Ward of Wednesday Market, printer and proprietor of the Beverley Recorder. He subsequently had a variety of jobs, in 1911 he was employed as a bottler in a brewery by 1914 he was a dock labourer; later he worked as a bricklayer. Frank enrolled in Beverley Church Lads' Brigade on 3 Dec 1908 and was a member of that organisation for almost two years, though the record book states he was a very irregular attender in the summer months, due to his commitment to the game of cricket.
Trooper 1451 Frank Massey enlisted in 1st/1st East Riding of Yorkshire Yeomanry on 18 Aug 1914. Posted initially to the north-east of England, the Regiment prepared for service abroad and disembarked at Alexandria, Egypt, on 10 Nov 1915 where they became part of the Western Frontier Force. Dismounted, and issued with a new rank and regimental number, Private 150443 Massey deployed with his new unit to the Western Front in Jun 1918, where he was to serve until after the Armistice. He was disembodied on 16 Mar 1919 and returned home to Yorkshire. He was awarded the 1914-1915 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. His name, along with the names of the other men of his neighbourhood who fought in the Great War, is inscribed on the street shrine in Norwood, Beverley.
Frank married Annie Robinson on 14 Mar 1925 at Pocklington, they two children Douglas and Sheila both born in Pocklington. In Sep 1939 when the National Registration was taken, the Massey family lived at 'Oakdale', Percy Road, Pocklington and Frank's occupation was that of a bricklayer and contractor. During the Second World War Frank was a warden in the ARP. Frank Massey died in 1966, aged 73. His widow Annie died in 1991, at the age of 93.
Includes information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |