The Great War: A–M · Story 7

Sons of Henry and Rhoda Bannister

Henry Bannister (1860-1940)

Usually, when I am writing these short biographies, I look at the man’s family tree to see where he came from. In the case of Henry and Sydney Bannister I first thought that it was a simple father and son relationship although I thought Henry was old to have been accepted as a recruit. It turned out that the family was more complicated than I had expected.

In the 1911 Census for Ringstead, Henry Bannister, a 50-year-old shoehand born in Northampton, was living in Carlow Road. With him was his wife Roda [sic] 47 and born in Ringstead and their children Mag [Margaret] (14) and Sydney (11) both born in Finedon, Julia (10) born in Northampton and Florence (8), Maud (7), and Kitty (5) all born in Ringstead. It also showed that Rhoda had been married 10 years and had had six children all of whom were still living. Again, it all seemed very straightforward.

Looking back, the 1901 Census complicated the family situation a little. Henry Bannister was 40-years-old and living at 13 Francis Street in Northampton. With him was Rhoda Warren (36), a boot closer who is shown as his housekeeper. With them were Margaret (4), Sydney (1), and James (1 month) and Henry’s brother, James Bannister (50). Sandwiched between the two Bannister men it appears that the children are dittoed to Rhoda’s surname, Warren.

The Register of Births for England and Wales records the older children: Margaret Warren in January – March 1897; Sidney Bannister Warren in July-Sept 1899 (both in Wellingborough District); James Bannister Warren in April-June 1901 in the Northampton District. The National Marriage Register also shows that Henry Bannister married Rhoda Warren in the January-March period of 1904 in the Thrapston District.

Once again this is not very complicated. Henry and Rhoda had children before their marriage, common today and far less uncommon then, than is often supposed. Once again, however, it is not that simple.

Rhoda Warren was of gypsy heritage, through her mother, Vashti Smith who was baptised on February 3rd 1839 in Corby, the daughter of Robert and Rhoda.

In late November1882 an Inquest was held at the Black Horse Inn in Ringstead. Vashti Warren stated that her daughter Rhoda Warren had been living in Finedon and she had not been aware until very recently that she was expecting a child. Vashti’s husband, Thomas Warren had gone to the Relieving Officer in Raunds to obtain a certificate so that Rhoda could be taken into Thrapston Union Workhouse, which had a hospital wing. A midwife was called and Thomas went for a cart to take her, but the child was born before he returned. It was healthy and not premature but was said by the doctor to have never breathed. He also said that the anti-bilious pills she had taken the night before may have accelerated the birth but had not been taken to procure an abortion. They consisted of jallup (“jalap” was from the root of a Morning Glory type plant and was a purgative) and rhubarb. The Inquest Jury found that the child had been stillborn.

We see that she had been living in Finedon and that there may be children earlier than the ones we already are aware of. It is another report, this time in the Northampton Mercury, on 19th March 1897 that shows how bad rural poverty could be at this time and also gives a further twist to the story.

Alfred Drage and Rhoda Warren, Finedon, were charged by Inspector W. Ward, N.S.P.C.C. with cruelty to children by neglecting the same in a manner likely to cause injury to their health between March 6th and 22nd. . . [The prosecutor] said the parties had been living together for 15 years unmarried and the children were illegitimate. . . On examining the house, the Inspector found two of the four rooms used only for lumber. The bedroom occupied two beds, one composed of straw and the other of shavings and were on the floor. They were alive with vermin and were rotten with filth. For bed clothing they had rags and old clothes. Warren said she had neglected the children and house to enable her to keep her work, boot closing, by which she could earn 10s. a week. The boy, Oliver earned 6s. . . . Drage earned on average 18s. per week. . . All the family slept in one bedroom. . . Mr. H. Burland, surgeon, next gave evidence. The youngest children, he said, were poorly nourished. The baby weighed 5 lbs instead of 8 lbs and Frances only weighed 14 lbs and ought to have weighed 20 lbs.

A friend vouchsafed that Rhoda was hardworking and cleaned her house every week but they were both sentenced to three months imprisonment.

It was probably at this time that the children were taken into Wellingborough Union Workhouse. It seems possible that, at about this time, Alfred Drage was committed to Berrywood Lunatic Asylum in Northampton for he died there on 23rd January 1899.

Meanwhile it appears that Rhoda had met up with Henry Bannister and, as we have seen, they had further children and married. Apart, perhaps, for Margaret, born in 1897, it does not seem that any of the children from her partnership with Drage ever lived with the Bannisters.

If we now move on to the beginning of the First World War, many in government were horrified when they saw the undersized and unhealthy soldiers who now emerged from the slums to make up the New Army. This was particularly so of large cities like Glasgow but we can see it across Great Britain in the military records.

Henry was the first to enlist, on 26th July 1915. He was 5 feet 4½ inches tall with a 36-inch chest. He was in his mid-fifties but. He must have lied about his age because he said he was 39 years 5 months old. The army would only take men between 18 and 41 at this time although some did lie about their age. One may ask why he would leave his wife and 6 children to voluntarily join the army. Was it patriotism? He joined the 4th Battalion of the Northamptonshire Regiment (Regimental No. 4520) which was a Territorial force and never left England. He went to Halton Park where much of the training took place. It soon became obvious that he was not fit to be a soldier or handle a gun (“do musketry”). He was invalided out, the reason given was that he had an old shoulder injury sustained in a fall before he joined the army, he was now said to be 56 at his next birthday.

After serving for one year and 15 days he was discharged on 9th August 1916 and, duty done, had to return to civilian life. He received a gratuity of 24 weeks from 5th June 1918 to 19th November 1918. Interestingly., the first child on the pension card is listed as James Warren Drage born 24th April 1901, Florence born 29th November 1902, Maud born 23rd November 1903 and Kitty born 13th July 1905. He was not entitled to any medals it appears.

In the 1939 Register of England and Wales Henry was living in Carlow and his birth was given as 4th May 1860. He is shown as retired and formerly a shoemaker. Rhoda is shown as being born on 20th May 1873 which I think is ten years too late and has the most usual occupation for married women in the Register, “unpaid domestic duties”, beside her name. Henry died the following year aged eighty. Rhoda died four years later in 1944 aged eighty-one.

Sydney Bannister (1899-1998)

If Henry had a quiet war spent in England, as one would expect for a recruit of his age, his son Sydney Bannister (as I will call him) had a very different experience of military life. Unfortunately, apart from his Medal Card, I have not found any other of his records.

We know from the Ringstead Roll of Honour that he joined the 1st Battalion of the Rifle Brigade and had served in France, Belgium and Germany. His Medal Card records that his Regimental Number was 41313. He was not entitled to the 1914 or 1914/15 Star and we must assume that he was conscripted when he was eighteen years old in 1917 or 1918 and was sent for training with the 52nd Battalion of the Rifle Brigade in Colchester, but probably did not get posted abroad until he was nineteen years old in 1918.

The 1st Battalion of the Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort’s Own) fought in 1917 at Arras, being in action at the First and Third Battles of the Scarpe. They then headed north for the Third Battle of Ypres where they fought at the Battle of Polygon Wood, the Battle of Broodseinde, the Battle of Poelacapelle and the First Battle of Passchendaele. In 1918 they were in action on the Somme before returning to Flanders where they fought in the Battle of Hinges Ridge during the Battle of Hazebrouck and in the Battle of Bethune. The Brigade then became part of the Advance on Flanders, the Second Battle of Arras, the Battles of the Hindenburg Line and the Final Advance into Picardy.

It seems that the 1st Battalion ended the war in Belgium but we see in the Ringstead Roll of Honour that Sydney was part of the Army of Occupation and had served in Germany. Unfortunately, at the moment we cannot tell just how this came about and the details of Sydney’s part in these operations. We do know that he was entitled to the British and Victory Medals.

After the war, Sydney returned to Ringstead and lived with his parents for a couple of years but he then moved north. It seems likely that he had become a labourer on the railway. We know this because Sydney had contracted Diphtheria while in the Army and as a result of this disease he developed “VDH” which stood for valvular disease of the heart. He had been awarded a pension. From his Pension Cards we can see that he was not discharged until the 21st November 1919 and that the pension was first paid to him in Ringstead but then he had moved to Station Cottages in Tamworth.

This information provides us with a link that allows us to look briefly at the rest of Sydney’s life. In the Autumn of 1922, he married Jessie Brierly in Tamworth District. By 1939 the couple were living at 20 Moor Lane in Amington, which was just over a mile to the east of Tamworth. Moor Lane ran alongside the main lines and bent across a bridge over the railway. In the 1939 Register of England and Wales Sidney [sic] was shown as born on the 27th July 1899 and, in the longest occupation description that I have found, he was a “Permanent Way Labourer Railway Engineering Maintenance and Repair Staff”. Jessie had the usual “Unpaid Domestic Duties”. Two daughters are shown and there are two others in the residence whose records have been officially closed, so perhaps there were four children. Gloria, the oldest child shown, was “A Textile Machinist in Relation to War Work”.

With his heart problems after the First World War one would not expect Sydney to have had a long life but I believe that he died in 1998, in his 99th year.