The Great War: N–Z · Story 5

The Pentelow Family

The Pentelow name is a popular one in the East Northamptonshire area, stretching back through the centuries. The father of our two WW1 servicemen, however, came from just over the border in Dean in Bedfordshire. His name was Thomas Pentelow, born on 28th April 1870, the son of William and Mary Ann. His wife, Edith York (or Yorke) was born in Denford in 1872 and baptised there on January 19th 1873, the daughter of Eli and Emma.

Edith’s family moved to Ringstead and the first time we meet her and Thomas together is in the 1901 Census for Irthlingborough where they were living in Queen Street. Thomas was working as a shoe finisher. They had four children and the three youngest children, Percy (8), Robert (5) and Daisy (3) were all born in Irthlingborough, but the eldest child, John Thomas, aged ten was born in Denford.

There is another complication because his surname is given as York, his mother’s maiden name. I have not found his christening (although he is recorded in the fourth quarter of 1890 in the Civil Registration Birth Index), nor the marriage of Thomas and Edith, and I cannot find any of them in the 1891 Census. There is one possibility for a 22-year-old shoe laster named Thomas Pentlow, his wife Elizabeth (not Edith) aged 20, a shoe finisher, and their son Thomas, aged 11 months were visitors at 41 Boston Street in Shoreditch in London. They apparently came from Durnford in an unknown county (N.K.). There is a Durnford in Wiltshire but I cannot find the family again. Could Durnford be Denford? We cannot be sure.

By the 1911 Census the family were living in London End in Ringstead. Thomas stated that they had been married 19 years and had had eight children, six of whom were still living. The two new additions to the family are Fred (8) born in Irthlingborough and Elen 4 born in Ringstead. We see that the family must have moved into the village around 1905.

John Thomas Pentelow [York] (1890-1962)

As we have seen, the early years of John Thomas are a little confused. I think that he started using his father’s surname in the period after 1911 and it may be that, except on official documents he and his family used “Thomas Pentelow” from the start. The changes in his name and the number of men with similar names in the area does make it sometimes less certain that we have the correct person.

We do know that in 1911 he was recorded as an “out of work” boot finisher. His trade was confirmed by a court case, recorded in the Northampton Mercury of 30th April 1909 where:

Thomas Pentelow, shoe operative and Percy Pentelow, labourer, of Ringstead were summoned by Ralph Whyman, farmer, of Ringstead for damaging a quickset hedge at Ringstead.

His military records show that he had become a currier. Currying was the cleaning, scraping, stretching and finishing of the previously tanned hides by oiling, waxing or colouring them to the required surface finish. Again, we have confirmation of his new trade from a newspaper report, this time the Chronicle and Echo of 10th September 1915.

Thomas Pentelow, currier, Ringstead, was summoned for using obscene language at Irthlingborough on August 23, - Pleading guilty, he was fined 15s.

We may conclude from these two cases that Thomas was something of a rough diamond but they would have been considered minor cases by most of the young men of the village.

It was not long after this, on 25th October 1915, that he attested for the army at Rushden. He was 24 years 6 months old and was 5ft 4 inches tall with a 33-inch chest which was quite small even by the standards of the time., The records also show that he had fair hair and blue eyes and was still living at London End in Ringstead. He had enlisted with the 8th Battalion of the Northamptonshire Regiment and was given Regimental Number 22280. The actual description in his records is the 8th Garrison Battalion 2nd Reserve

The 8th Battalion had been formed in October 1914 and, in May 1915, had moved to Colchester and become a reserve battalion, moving on to Sittingbourne in March 1916. They finally were sent to Maidstone and became the 28th Training Reserve Battalion but, before this move, Thomas had already been discharged on 27th July 1916. His records show that he had suffered from “fits” all his life and had been diagnosed as having epilepsy. He had never served abroad and had been a soldier for just 277 days. His character was described as “Fair” which indicates that he had a few issues with authority or perhaps his illness was not looked on with sympathy

It was not the end of his war, however, for, just over a year later, on 18th August 1917 he enlisted with the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) and was given the Service Number 124593. The RAMC had expanded rapidly during First World War from 9000 Other Ranks in 1914 to 154,000 in 1918. It served all over the world but for Thomas it was just service at home. He was a Private and probably had no or little medical training so would have done the necessary menial tasks of the old hospital porter.

The records do not show where he worked but do record that he was finally demobilised, again, on 10th October 1919. Once more the reason given was his epilepsy.

The story of his life after he returned home also has some uncertainty. It may be that on the 13th April 1919, he married Grace Adelaide Dawson. Certainly, a Thomas Pentelow, aged 27, and a member of the RAMC, whose father was also Thomas and a shoe finisher, was married at St Mary the Virgin Church in Lower Edmonton in Enfield. Grace’s brother, Joseph Dawson, was married at the same time. He is also shown as “married” on a second Pension Card that was completed for him. We cannot be sure, but it does seem that there is enough, evidence to say that this is our man. There is also the likelihood that the couple had a child, Grace Pentelow, born in the Spring of 1919. The child’s mother’s maiden name was shown as Dawson.

What happened next lies outside the records that I have researched. In 1939, a Grace Pentelow was shown as an inmate in Enfield House, a “Public Assistance Institution” at 17/19 Chase Side Crescent in Enfield. She had been born on 31st December 1896 and was shown as a married domestic servant. Could this be Thomas’s wife?

If this is the case, I think that Thomas returned to Ringstead alone. It is still not certain and the 1921 Census when it is released may give us a clearer picture. There is, in the 1939 Register, a John T. Pentelow, born on 13th April 1890 who had a hut in the Ringstead Allotments in Denford Road. He could be our “Thomas Pentelow” but his occupation is shown as “Drover” not Currier. There is also an earlier article in the Northampton Mercury of the 28th September 1934 which reported on a case where a man was convicted for driving a lorry recklessly. Rounding a bend on the Denford Road he had shed one of his barrels of tar. This time Thomas was a witness and told how he had to take sudden avoiding action to escape the barrel. This Thomas is again described as a drover.

Thomas was buried in London Road Cemetery in Kettering on 9th June 1962. He had died in Glapthorne Road Hospital in Oundle, aged 72, and was described as a “retired leather dresser”. Was the drover and leather dresser the same man? It was not an uncommon name. I think that Grace Pentelow died in Enfield in 1965.

Robert Pentelow (1895-1959)

Thomas’s younger brother (or half-brother) was born in 1895 when the family were in Irthlingborough. He was the son of Thomas Pentelow from Dean and Edith Yorke (or Yorke) from Denford. In 1901 the family were living in Queen Street in Irthlingborough but by 1911 they had moved to London End in Ringstead. Only the youngest child, Elen (Ellen) aged four, had been born In Ringstead and the next eldest, aged eight had been born in Irthlingborough so they must have moved to the village in about 1905.

Robert, aged sixteen, had become a coal hawker. A hawker was normally somebody who went around the villages selling goods. Could Robert have done it with a horse and cart or perhaps a barrow, yelling his wares? On the other hand he may have gone around the houses taking orders for the coal merchant.

By 1915 he had become an Ironstone Labourer. On 20th November 1915 he attested and was put on the Army Reserve. He was 20 years 8 months old and was mobilised on 26th June 1916 with the 28th Reserve Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers with Regimental Number 52947. As this unit’s name implies he remained in England at first and we know that he was in the Ringstead area for some of the time for he married Eliza A. Joy in the Wellingborough District in the October to December 1916 period. Perhaps his imminent posting abroad precipitated the marriage but there was another possible reason. The couple had a daughter, Edith Ethel Pentelow, born on 25th September 1916.

Certainly, Robert was about to begin his military service and, on 14th December 1916, as part of the 8th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers, he was posted to the Western Front. The 8th had first landed in France in May 1915 and saw action as part of the 36th Brigade of the 12th (Eastern) Division. During 1916 they had seen heavy fighting at the Battle of Albert, the Battle of Pozieres and the Battle of Le Transloy which were part of the 1916 Campaign known as the Battle of the Somme. In the Battle of Albert, on the 7th July the 8th,, as part of the 36th Brigade, were sent to capture the village of Orvillers. The Battalion of 800 men was cut down by machine gun fire and were reduced to 160 by the end of the day.

Robert would not have joined the Battalion before the 1917 Campaign. The first major campaign of the year was the Battle of Arras and the 8th were in the First Battle of the Scarpe, the Battle of Arleux, the Third Battle of the Scarpe and the Cambrai operations.

It was at the Third Battle of the Scarpe on the 3rd and 4th May, that the 8th, along with the 9th, were given the task of advancing 1000 yards and attacking a German line 9000 yards wide. It was an almost impossible task and the 8th sustained heavy casualties from machine gun fire. Between them, the 8th and 9th had lost 282 killed and wounded and were then formed into one combined Battalion. At some point about this time Robert was wounded and on 10th May 1917 he left France for England. Later records show that he had received a gunshot wound to the right leg. He had been on the Western Front for 148 days.

For the rest of the war Robert was in England. His military records are a little difficult to decipher, but it looks as if he was sent to a Depot Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers and then transferred on 25th February 1918 to the 5th (Reserve) Battalion which was based in Dover. He remained there until he was transferred to the 9th Battalion of the Northamptonshire Regiment on the 10th August 1918 and given Regimental Number 91549. He was then posted to the 339th Company of the Royal Defence Corps on the 1st November of the same year. He remained with them until the 1st February 1919.

The Royal Defence Corps (RDC) had originally been formed by converting the Home Service Garrison Battalions of the Line Infantry Regiments. In general, they consisted of soldiers who were too old, or medically unfit, for Front Line service. The 339th were a part of the “Protection Companies” of the Western Command. By April 1918, of the 27,000 men serving in the RDC, 14,000 were guards in prisoner-of-war camps. Was this Robert’s role?

He was finally demobilised as being unfit for service, having a 40% disablement, but one wonders if there was also another, compassionate, reason. Eliza, who Robert had only married in 1916, just before he was mobilised, died, aged 29, in early 1919.

Like his brother, Thomas, there is some uncertainty about what happened next in Robert’s life. Again, the 1921 Census may help clarify his life after demobilisation. A Robert Pentelow married Ethel Payne in the Norwich District in the second quarter of 1920. It seems likely that this is the same man. In the later 1920s Electoral Registers he is shown living with Ethel in Norwich Road in Flordon until 1929. In 1930 the couple are shown in “Gravel Pits” in Brooke in Norwich.

The 1939 Register of England and Wales has them in Chapel Barn Cottages in Downham in Norfolk. His birth date is shown as April 13th 1895 and Ethel’s as October 6th 1890. He was working as a cowman. Robert died in Norfolk in 1959 and I believe was buried in Boughton Cemetery on 2nd February, aged 64. Boughton is some seven miles east of Downham Market and 15 miles south of King’s Lynn. I also think that Ethel died in the King’s Lynn area in 1976.