| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
Bertie was born in Walkington in late 1893 and baptised at the parish church on 13 May 1894 the son of James Boswell and Charlotte. James was originally from Skipsea whilst his wife was from Hull. James was a labourer and later a shepherd when they had lived in the Brandesburton and Rowley areas, when the family moved to Walkington he was a chalk and clay labourer. The family moved to Beverley living at 30 Hengate where they had set up a stocking making business. Bertie’s sisters, Lily and Rose, were a stocking knitter and haberdashery shopkeeper respectively. Bertie belonged to the Beverley Cycling and Athletic Club.
On 3 Dec 1914 he married Emily Dorothy Scaife at St Nicholas’ Church, Beverley, they lived with her parents at 38 Beaver Road but then moved to Wheeler Street, Hull. At the time of his marriage Bertie was working as a draper but was later described as a “motor driver” when he enlisted. Bertie was allocated to the 4th Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment and was badly wounded on 13 May 1917. He was admitted to 13th General Hospital in Boulogne and the repatriated to the UK. On returning to service in Aug 1917 he was allocated to the York and Lancaster Regiment, he was wounded again in the summer of 1918 and taken off frontline duties and moved to the Labour Corps in the UK. He left the army in Oct 1919. Bertie was awarded the War and Victory Medals.
Bertie returned to Beverley his son Harry was born in 1920. The family moved to Lincolnshire, where Bertie died in the Spilsby area in 1934 aged 39. Emily died in Beverley aged 94 in 1988.
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |